


Born to be free

by Toki_Troll



Category: Trolls (2016)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-08-04
Packaged: 2019-03-30 12:00:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 28,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13951137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toki_Troll/pseuds/Toki_Troll
Summary: After finding a strange creature in the lagoon the trolls learn secrets of her past and when disaster strikes, Branch, Poppy, Tekai and the rest of the Snack Pack need to find a way to set their new friend free and get her back to where she belongs. (Trolls have tails in this story)





	1. A spirit is born

"I was born in a time when all was right with the world, a time when you believed in everything you did and you could do just about anything, well I guess to a lykar it was different with my pod we traveled for miles and miles into the sunset, to us mother nature had no boundaries and neither did we but we did know one thing no matter where we traveled, no matter what lands we discovered, we would always return back home."

15 years earlier

"Branch! Branch!" Iris out called trying to find her little brother, how hard could it be? he was the only grey troll in the entire village, she looked everywhere for him down by the river, around the lagoon, in the trees, there was no sight of him "where are you buddy?" she muttered to herself.

She climbed up one of the trees hoping to get a better view, she wrapped her two-toned hair onto one of the branches, she studied her surroundings until something caught her eye, a little tuft of black hair Iris smiled then she swung to tree closets to the tuft and landed on one of the lower branches and saw that the tuft of black hair belonged to her brother, she kept quiet not wanting to be noticed by Branch she knew that he had really sensitive ears that could easily pick up any sudden sound that she made but lucky for her the little troll was too focused on collecting sticks.

"Why does he need so many sticks?" Iris thought, there were many things that she didn't know about her brother. Now with a bundle of sticks under his arm the little grey troll walked away and stumbled trying to manage the weight of all the sticks.

"Maybe I should make a few trips," Branch said to himself as he bent down to put his sticks on the ground giving his arm a rest, this was the perfect opportunity for Iris to sneak up on him. She wrapped her tail around the branch she was on literally a few hairs away from Branch who was still picking up the many sticks that he had collected. When he was upright again he turned around toward Iris's direction.

"BRANCH!!!" Iris shouted causing him to scream and fall on to his butt dropping all of his sticks onto the ground then he looked back at Iris, he did not look happy.

"Iris!" the little troll scolded "You nearly gave me a heart attack!" but Iris was just laughing hysterically, Branch recovered from the fright and got up, "So what do you want?" he asked.

"What are you doing?" She asked back.

"Collecting sticks, what does it look like I'm doing?" Iris unwrapped her tail from the tree and met Branch's eye level as she ruffled his hair, "anyway what do you want?" Branch repeated as he tidied up his hair that Iris had messed up.

"It's Kayla," Iris started but Branch interrupted her with a groan, ever since Kayla was pregnant it's all Iris has been talking about "her temperature has dropped and I think the calf will be coming soon." Branch just stared at her.

"You've been saying that for the past 3 weeks!" Branch was starting to get annoyed at his older sister for always bringing the subject of Kayla up but before Branch could say anything else Iris grabbed him by the arm and ran to the lagoon, dragging Branch along with her.

The lagoon was huge and it had small waterfalls, an opening to the open ocean at the far end and huge glass panels at the front of the lagoon so the trolls can look at the lykars underwater. There were lykars of many different sizes, colors and types, a sea lykar was like a cross between a wolf and a dolphin, most of their body was like a wolf's but they had a long, powerful tail with big blue tail flukes, a dorsal fin and two small pectoral fins just above their shoulders but they were completely covered with fur. Most commonly lykars are just big wolves with much bigger ears and slightly longer tails but either way, both types of lykars were huge compared to a troll, an average troll is only the size of a full-grown lykar's head.

Kayla was a beautiful sea lykar, she had turquoise eyes and grey fur with a white underside but she had a deep blue stripe running down her body (common in sea lykars) she was lying down in shallow water watching her mate Kotar playing with their first born son Storm. Kayla noticed Iris and Branch coming towards the glass so she went over to greet them, she swam gracefully moving her tail up and down to slowly propel herself through the water, lykars don't talk very often only to communicate with other lykars but they can also communicate using clicks and squeaks but Iris could tell that Kayla was saying 'hello'. Iris placed her hand against the glass and Kayla put her nose against where Iris's hand was placed as if Iris was touching her nose.

"Just think," Iris said excited "Any day now Kayla and Kotar will have a new calf and Storm will have a new brother or sister!"

"Why don't we assume its gender when it's born, okay?!" Branch interrupted causing Iris to glare at him then rolling her eyes. It's not that Branch wasn't happy about the new calf, he just didn't want Iris to be disappointed if the calf doesn't survive, he didn't have as much faith as his sister did, as ANY of the trolls did.

Branch looked down at his pendant that his dad gave to him when he was younger, it was made of wood with three light blue gems in it matching his original skin color back when he was happy, it was carved in the shape of a sea lykar's tail fluke, Iris had the same but with purple gems in it matching her skin color, Branch then looked up at Kayla's tail flukes, their dad was alive for Kayla's birth and the pendant was inspired by Kayla's flukes. Looking at his pendant reminded him of his dad and his mom, he missed them, he didn't want to show it but he missed them, his ears began to droop in sadness, Iris gently put her arm around Branch's shoulder and wrapped her tail around his.

"I miss him too," she said to him stroking his ear.

"I bet he would want to be here to see this," Branch sniffed. Iris could tell that Branch was upset, she had to think fast.

"Yeah, but think about it," Iris tried to reassure her little brother, "Dad was here for Kayla's birth and here we are for her second calf, it's been passed down the line." Branch hated when Iris talked like that but he didn't want to admit that it made him feel better. He didn't like how much Iris was like their cousin Creek, She was originally his aunt's daughter but she and Branch's uncle decided to keep Creek and give Iris to Branch's mom Crystal but all that happened before he was even born, he always knew that Creek was no good and he worried that Iris was just like him. Branch nodded and smiled at his sister. "Awww you're so cute when you're happy!" Iris cooed patting his head.  
Kayla leaned her body over the glass panel and moved her head just above Branch letting him pet her nose.

"See you tomorrow Kayla." Branch whispered in her ear, the two trolls made their way back to the village.

 

***

It was early in the morning and no other trolls were awake, except for Branch he made his way over to the lagoon to check on Kayla, he squinted at the glass trying to spot her but she wasn't there. He walked around the lagoon searching for her then suddenly he noticed something, it was Kotar and storm they were crowding around something, was it Kayla? he got closer to them trying his best not to disturb them.

Then he saw exactly what they were looking at, he gasped and ran to find Iris. When he found her Branch was panting so much that Iris thought he was having a panic attack.

"I-Iris," he panted as he pointed towards the direction of the lagoon, Iris knew exactly what this meant and the two of them ran to the lagoon. Both trolls were completely out of breath by the time they got to the lagoon, Branch lead Iris to where Kotar and Storm were and when she saw, her eyes widened.

Kayla was curled up in the shallow water and wrapped in her long tail was a new-born lykar calf only a few hours old, Branch and Iris couldn't believe what they were seeing.

"It's a girl," Iris said, "She's beautiful." The calf had beautiful grey fur with a lighter grey color on her underside, she had a light blue stripe going from her neck to the very end of her tail, she was perfect. The family of lykars dove into the water but the calf stood there looking into the water, Kayla surfaced and made a squeaking noise at her as if saying that 'it's okay to come in,' the calf squeaked back at her mom but in a much higher pitch which caused Iris and Branch to smile, she jumped nose first into the water.

"Graceful," Branch said sarcastically while breaking into a smile, they ran to the front of the lagoon and looked at them through the glass panels, the calf was already getting the hang of swimming, surfacing every now and then to take a few breaths of air.

"You know," Iris started, "we still need a name for her." Branch looked puzzled and hesitated, he didn't even think about what to name her but he was too focused on her trying to race Storm.

"She has such a fighting spirit," Branch laughed as he watched the calf swimming as fast as her tail could take her, that gave Iris an idea.

"That's her name," Iris announced "Spirit.", Branch and Iris looked at each other then back at the glass.

"Spirit," Branch repeated, "I like it." Iris's face lifted, it had been so long since Branch had said that he liked something. Kotar came to the glass.

"I like it too." Kotar spoke softly and the two trolls smiled, it is so rare that you get to hear a lykar speak. Spirit swam up to the glass, the two trolls couldn't believe how small she was, she was only quarter the size of Kayla that's about the same size as two trolls put together, Branch placed his hand on the glass and Spirit looked at it then gently putting her nose against it, Branch smiled but Spirit didn't know how to react so she just opened her mouth widely attempting to copy him.

***

Branch ran along the the edge of the lagoon with Spirit in the water following him and every now and then she would leap into the air, he then slowed down to hop onto Spirit's back, because she was bigger now Branch's weight was like a pebble to her so she didn't mind letting him ride on her. Iris watched her brother on Spirit, she had never seen him so happy and she couldn't believe how fast Spirit had grown up, she was about 4 years old now and she can jump nearly as high as Kayla.

"Hey Iris!" Branch called out, "check this out." he got off Spirit and climbed onto a near by rock and stood on the edge, he signaled Spirit to dive down and she did so, she dived down so deep that she wasn't visible until she leaped out of the water over Branch's head and spun around like a corkscrew and spat water out of her mouth as if she was a fountain. Iris's jaw dropped in awe.

"Wow!" she commented.

Later that evening Branch sat on one of the rocks on the edge of the lagoon looking at his reflection in the water and sighed, Spirit came up to him looking concerned then she let own a low groan, Branch scratched the top of her head.

"I wish my dad saw what we did today," he said to Spirit, "he would have loved it." Spirit tilted her head looking confused, "if it wasn't for him introducing me and Iris to lykars then we wouldn't have been friends," he got out his pendant and showed it to Spirit who sniffed it a little, "he made this for me." Branch's ears slowly drooped as he spoke tearfully, Spirit could tell that he was sad so she pressed her cold nose against his pointy ear and started moving it back and forth which made Branch smile, "I can't wait for you to learn how to talk then maybe you could talk to me," Spirit made out a few grunts and whistles, "I don't understand what you're saying." he said playfully then he leaned forward and put his forehead against Spirit's.

***

"My life was perfect, I had a great family, great friends even with the trolls, I would run and swim without stopping gradually getting faster and faster everyday, I was also one of the highest jumpers in our pod considering I was still only a calf. I would race the seagulls that flew over the island trying to follow them until they were completely out of sight, I dream of the wind blowing against my face, the salty water course through my fur, the loud grunts and whistles that the other lykars made. But no matter how much I dream I am still trapped in this concrete prison where there is nowhere to explore and nowhere to go."


	2. Stolen Freedom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened to Spirit you ask? Well here's your answer.  
> (Song used- "The world is ours" by David Correy)

"I remember that day..."

"It was impossible to forget...."

***

It was dawn. The sun rose over the horizon staining the blue sky red and orange. The light shone on the never ending ocean and the world was silenced, no one was awake, no one apart from Spirit who by the looks of it was still half asleep. Her big ears were lopsided making her look more like a fennec fox, the fur on the back of her neck was all ruffled up and her eyes were still half closed (talk about a 'sleeping beauty') she stuck her tail end in the air and lowered the front of her body to the ground stretching her muscles trying to fight back any sleep she had in her then she yawned so widely that her head could have split in half, she scratched her eyes with her front paws and shook off her entire body.  
She looked out into horizon watching the lagoon glisten in the light.

"If only everyone was awake to see this." She thought, Spirit was still only about 5 years old so she wasn't able to talk yet but she could use clicks and squeaks to communicate with the rest of her pod. She was about to dive into the water until she felt something tug on her tail, she turned around to see what was holding her back and all she could see was a large paw, the paw belonged to her father Kotar.

"What are you doing up so early?" Kotar asked little sea lykar, Sprit used her nose to point at the water indicating that she wanted to go stretch her tail out. "You're not going anywhere at this hour." Spirit's face dropped and she grunted loudly.

"Come on Kotar," said a voice behind him that startled him. It was Kayla. "She needs to learn independence sooner than later besides no one will be up it's too early." Spirit looked up at her dad, her eyes wide. Kotar smiled at his daughter's attempt to be cute.

"Alright then," he gave in, letting his paw off of Spirit's tail. "But don't go past the lagoon, okay?" Spirit nodded, smiling ear to ear with her tail free and wagging uncontrollably then she dove head first into the water.

"She's just like you." Kayla laughed as she smiled at her mate, Kotar smiled back.

Spirit swam over to the front of the lagoon, sliding out onto one of the rocks near the edge catching the sun on her face, she looked around the lagoon as the other lykars were starting to wake up, she heard the choir of yawns and grunts of the rest of the pod then one by one they dived into the water.  
Spirit inhaled through her nose and sighed feeling the breeze on her face, she looked to the sky and saw that the seagulls were flying over the lagoon and she followed them. She dove into the water beating her tail up and down gliding through the water at incredible speeds, she jumped out of the water over 3 her height and threw her body back to perform a back dive then she jumped out of the water and on to the rock at the edge of the lagoon, running as fast as her legs could carry her, hopping from rock to rock until she reached the shore and sprinted, trying to overtake the seagulls. She got faster and faster until she reached the far end of the lagoon where the opening to the ocean was she leaped up onto one of the rocks and watched as the seagulls flew over her head. Spirit let out a loud squeal as they flew out of sight.  
This was paradise. She knew that this was where she belonged.  
Spirit gazed at the lagoon from the rock that she stood on, she watched and listened to the lykars as they sang.

Run like you're born to fly  
Live like you'll never die  
Dare what you dare to dream  
And everything in between

We are drawn by the rhythms that beat through our hearts  
When we all come together we're seven billion stars

The world is ours  
Ooh ooh o o o  
Seven billion stars  
The world, the world, the world  
The world is ours

Sing out your battle cry  
Under the stadium sky  
Oceans and land divide  
United we feel inside

You can stand on my shoulders and raise up your arms  
When we all come together we light up the dark

The world is ours  
Ooh ooh o o o  
Seven billion stars  
The world, the world, the world  
The world is ours

After the song was over Spirit looked out into the ocean and the large cliff that stood next to the lagoon, she always wondered what was over that cliff. But all of a sudden something caught her eye. It was a boat, a large boat with a crane at the side of it but the worst thing of all is that it stank causing Spirit to scrunch up her face. Why was it here?

Iris was on the shore with Branch until she heard a screeching noise, she climbed up onto the side of the lagoon.

"What is it?" Branch asked, Iris's eyes went wide but she didn't say a word, Branch knew that something was wrong so he climbed up onto the rock to see what Iris was looking at and his jaw dropped. There was a boat but not just any boat, A hunting boat it was right at the end of the lagoon and there were figures on the boat throwing nets into the water. The lykars were panicking, Branch saw Spirit running to find her family but the crowding of the panicking lykars trying to escape made it impossible for the young sea lykar to find them.

"We need to get them out of the lagoon." Iris stated, Branch nodded in agreement. They ran over the shore and yelled at the lykars to get out of the lagoon. The entire pod crowded towards the entrance desperately trying to escape. Nets were being tossed into the water causing sea lykars to get tangled up in them. Kayla was separated from the rest of the pod, she couldn't find Kotar or Storm so she let out a squeal to try find them.  
The sound of the squeal hit Spirit's ears and she started to swim towards it, she saw Kayla and swam to her. After the two were reunited they made a break for the entrance but before they could reach it the entrance of the lagoon was sealed off by a net that the men on the boat threw down to stop any other lykars from escaping. Spirit and Kayla were trapped they had nowhere to go. The men threw nets around the remaining lykars in the lagoon and pulled them onto the boat, Branch and Iris watched in terror as the boat began to leave, they could hear Kotar calling for his mate and his daughter but there was no response.  
Branch ran to the edge of the lagoon tears running down his face, Spirit was the only thing that had kept him happy and she was gone.

"No no no no no, we can't let this happen, we have to get her back." Branch cried as he attempted to catch up with the boat but Iris grabbed him by his tail trying to stop him, he kept on pulling and pulling trying to slip out of his sister's grip.

"Branch, it's too dangerous, she can't be saved." Iris cried, Branch stopped struggling, he stood still in disbelief. Iris let go of her Branch's tail and stood next to him, she wrapped her arms around him and brought him in for a hug. Branch started to cry, Iris stroked the back of his head trying to fight back the tears she had inside. The rest of the lykars came back into the lagoon with their heads held low Kotar and Storm stood on one of the rocks surrounding the edge of their home, they were silent. Kotar suddenly let out a loud squeal of sadness, all the other lykars joined in, the sound was long, sad and hard to listen. They carried on until the noise faded into silence.

When Spirit and Kayla were on the boat they were taken to a dark room at the lower level on the boat and they were put into separate cages that was confined so tightly that they could barely move. Spirit poked through the bars and looked around, there were so many lykars in the room, some were lykars and some were sea lykars, some were alive but some were dead. Spirit stuck her paw through one of the bars trying her best to reach her mom who was in the corner with her head held low, she turned around to face her daughter.

"It'll be fine Spirit," Kayla reassured her. "We'll find a way."

The boat pulled to a stop and the lykars were unloaded with muzzles around their faces and were brought to a strange place; they were inside for a while but eventually were taken outside. Spirit looked around, the place had 4 concrete tanks, opposite the biggest tank was a bunch of seating rows, it was like a giant stadium. Inside the tanks there were sea lykars jumping out of the water with snatchers yelling at them. Snatchers are a lot like bergens but they were much more selfish. They looked a lot like humans but with pointy ears and a short, stubby tail.  
Kayla and Spirit spent some time in a small tank by themselves but 4 snatchers walked over to the pool and threw a rope around Kayla's neck pulling her onto the shore, she thrashed around trying to escape them but it was no use. One trainer got out a brander with the end of it flaming hot, they held Kayla down and pressed the hot metal against her shoulder, she let out a shriek of pain as the snatchers pushed her back into the pool then they threw the rope around Spirit, dragged her out on the poolside and branded her square in the chest, it left a huge brand mark in the shape of what looked like a whale fluke and this mark meant that Kayla and Spirit belonged to the snatchers until they die.

***  
"It's been 10 years since that incident but I have still been doing the same thing all day, everyday. We perform for crowds and crowds of people hearing the loud roar of cheers they make when we leap into the air, it's not everyday you get to see a sea lykar up close so these snatchers capture us and force us to perform for money but when we're not performing we are staring at the concrete walls of the tanks without moving for hours. I have seen sea lykars come and go as they are captured and killed, the ones who survive are considered lucky but each lykar that I have met has a tragic story, Thunder had to watch his entire pod die in front of him, Luna was born in captivity but her mother got into a fight with another lykar and was killed because she couldn't escape and my friend Askar was born on a breeding farm but within a month of being alive, he was taken from his mother and sent to perform. Askar and I have been really close since we met when we were little and we still dream of roaming the ocean together. As for my mother, she was taken to what we call 'the slaughterhouse' where old or permanently injured lykars get sent to, there they will live in the worst condition possible, they don't usually survive past 2 or 3 months. I knew that my mom was gone.  
I am sick of living in this condition, the water is so shallow that when we dive into the water we hit our noses on the bottom of the tank, we get so depressed that we attempt to strand ourselves on the poolside. I know that my pod is still out there, my dad, my brother and I hoped that they missed me, as much as I missed them."


	3. Meeting Tekai

"Branch, I know I wanted you to come tell stories to the trollings but maybe you could try NOT giving them nightmares for the rest of the week." Poppy said to Branch but he didn't understand the problem.

"Oh come on," He said confused "I only told them a couple of bergen stories." Poppy looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

"Branch, you told them how a troll was digested!" She scolded at him.

"I learned it when I was younger." Branch stated.

"The oldest trolling was 4 years old!" Poppy yelled as he gently smacked him on the top of his head.

"Oh well it wasn't THAT bad," Branch tried to reassure her. "They'll be fine in a few days."

"More like weeks." Poppy muttered under her breath trying to avoid Branch's big, sensitive ears from hearing her. "Anyway, I need you to come with me to pick up Fluffy from the rivered trolls' village." Fluffy was Poppy's pet terra-fluff, like any of her kind she was covered in fur but she had teeth like razor-sharp knives and she didn't like Branch at all.

"What? No! why do I have to come?" Branch complained.

"Because you're my best friend," Poppy said sweetly, Branch went completely silent. "I thought you would like to come to the rivered trolls' village," But he wasn't convinced. He never knew much about the rivered trolls apart from that he didn't really care. He began to walk away.

"Oh really and what makes you think that I'll..." Branch's words were cut off when he felt something pin his tail to the ground stopping him from walking away. Poppy was stepping on Branch's tail and smiling at him.

"Because I'm the queen and you have to do as I say," Poppy said smugly. "Now let's go." Branch groaned and rolled his eyes.

***

The rivered trolls were very different compared to the so called 'music trolls', they hardly ever danced, hugged but very rarely they would sing, they weren't very colorful mainly just reds, browns and oranges but sometimes they can be greens, yellows and blues. They can extend their hair but they weren't able to change the color of it making it harder for them to blend in to their surroundings and unlike music trolls who are just fuzz rivered trolls had a thin layer of fur which would usually cause music trolls to stroke and hug them as if they were pets.

When Poppy and Branch got to the rivered trolls' village Branch was amazed by how practical everyone seemed, nearly every one of them carried a weapon from a spear to a bow and arrow.

'Why couldn't I have grown up here?" he thought to himself. His father was a rivered troll hence his ears. Rivered trolls' ears were very similar to Branch's, they were a lot more pointy and a little bit thinner and because Branch's mom was a music troll and his dad was a rivered troll his ears were very unique.

"Do you rule these guys too?" Branch asked Poppy.

"Well they have a leader, more like a chief but then again I'm the queen of the trolls so I can take charge of them," she said modestly.   
"There's also someone that I want you to meet," Poppy stated to Branch, "I think you'll like her, she's very tough and she just reminds me of you so much." Branch just shrugged and nodded with a little smile.

As they walked through the village Branch noticed something. There were lykars. Most of them had ropes tied around their necks with a rivered troll pulling them on the other end. No sea lykars though. Not like Spirit....

Branch really missed Spirit, she was the only thing that kept him happy when he was younger but he was happy now and that's the main thing.

Poppy didn't want to admit it but she had no idea how to get to the vet to pick up Fluffy, it actually seemed like they were walking around in circles.

"Um...I think it's that way...no wait...er..this way..." Poppy had no idea where they were going. She stopped by to ask someone but it took a lot longer than expected. Branch got bored until he pricked up one of his ears when he heard a strange grunting noise, being the paranoid troll he was he would have just ignored it and stayed away but he was curious so he decided to follow the noise and it lead him to a large wooden building, it was a stable and inside were lykars each in their own small pen. One lykar stuck its head over the gate of its pen and looked at him, Branch walked closer towards the lykar and he was in awe about how beautiful it looked.

"You're beautiful," he whispered to the amazing creature as he reached out his hand to pet it, he placed his hand on the lykar's forehead and stroked it down to it's nose, it was huge compared to Branch, its big, turquoise eyes looking into his.

"What are you doing?" a voice asked startling him he immediately turned around to face the voice and got into a karate-like pose ready to defend himself.

The voice belonged to a young rivered troll, she only looked a couple of years younger than Branch, she had tan colored fur with brown tipped hands, feet, ears and tail and had darker-colored hair, she wore a brown colored tunic with a belt around her waist and bandages around her elbows, a grey skirt and some brown leggings underneath, her hair was tied up in a plait and had a small notch in her ear and a similar one near the end of her tail but the most noticeable thing about her was that her left leg was replaced with a prosthetic.

"Whoa, easy there karate paws." she laughed, "What are you doing here? aren't you supposed to be with the other musical trolls, singing songs and giving everyone a headache?" she asked sarcastically.

"Well you're one to assume aren't you?" Branch scoffed, this troll was talking to him as if he was stupid.

"Do you like lykars?" the troll asked.

"Huh?"

"I just asked you a question, do you like lykars?"

"Yeah I-I've had a history with them." Branch smiled, the troll smiled back. "Is this one yours?" he asked pointing at the lykar he was petting.

"Yeah, he's a beauty isn't he?" She said as she scratched her lykar under the chin, "His name is Manta." she climbed up onto the top of the gate sitting on the edge, Branch wrapped his long, blue hair on the gate and swung up next to where the troll was sitting.

"He must be really fast." Branch complimented, "his stream-lined body and long legs must make it impossible for anyone to keep up with." The troll was amazed by how much Branch knew about lykars.

"Manta here is one of the fastest lykars in the village." she replied. Branch admired Manta's beautiful markings running down his back towards his tail, they looked like waves and swirls as if the ocean was marked onto his back. "I'm Tekai by the way."

"I'm Branch." he replied and smiled.

"Branch?" Poppy called out to him, seemed as she was finally done asking for directions.

"Sorry I gotta go." he said to Tekai, she waved at him as he left the stables.

"There you are Branch! where were you?" Poppy asked but before Branch could answer Poppy saw Tekai walking out of the stables. "Tekai!" she called.

"Oh hi your Majesty," Tekai called back.

"Please Kai, you can call me Poppy." She turned to Branch "Branch this is who I wanted you to meet, this is Tekai." Branch's eyes went wide. Poppy said that the troll she wanted him to meet was tough, Tekai didn't seem that tough.

"Wait, THIS kid is the so called 'tough one' that you wanted me to meet, she's a little..." Branch didn't want to say anything else so he just lowered his hand indicating that Tekai was short.

"HEY!" she blurted, she didn't take the comment too well, "Who says I'm not tough, I could easily kick your a-"

"OKAY BREAK IT UP YOU TWO!" Poppy yelled, "see what I mean, she's just like you Branch." Tekai smirked but Branch just rolled his eyes. "Anyway Tekai, do you know where Olive is?"

"Oh right, you're here to pick up your terra-fluff aren't you," Tekai realized "Follow me."

When the three of them got to the vet there were terra-fluffs playing everywhere with an olive- colored troll sitting with them.

"Hi Olive, Queen Poppy is here to pick up Fluffy," Tekai announced.

"I can see why you call her Olive." Branch whispered into Tekai's ear.

"Oh yes, of coarse your Majesty," Olive said as she picked Fluffy up who was playing with the other terra-fluffs. "Luckily her paw wasn't that bad, it just needs to stay bandaged up for a couple of days, it was just a bramble in her paw." Fluffy jumped out of Olive's arms and joined back in with her friends limping slightly with her bandaged paw. "So Tekai, are you taking Manta around the forest again this evening?" Olive asked, trying to change the subject.

"Yeah I'm gonna sneak him out when the riders are making their way to the arena, so Clay doesn't suspect anything," Tekai stated, "I'm taking him to the top of the cliffs today."

"Wait what?" Branch interrupted.

"Well because Manta hates being in the lykar races I make it up to him by riding him around the forest, he loves it." Tekai answered.

"You race lykars?" he questioned.

"I know, horrible isn't it." Tekai replied, "but according to Clay it's 'a rivered troll tradition'."

"Who's Clay?" Branch asked.

"Wow you ask a lot of questions." Olive laughed.

"Clay is basically the biggest, self centered jerk in the world!" Tekai grunted.

"Tekai!" Olive yelled and laughed, she knew that Tekai was right.

Their conversation was interrupted when the terra-fluffs started making adorable noises which caught Poppy's ears.

"Awww Fluffy wants to stay here with the others," Poppy cooed as she watched them play.

"Any day now!" Branch groaned but he saw that Poppy wasn't moving, "ugh fine I'll get her." He bent down to pick up the terra-fluff.

"Er Branch..." Tekai interrupted as Branch held one of the terra-fluffs in his hands, "that's not Fluffy." She was right Branch picked up one of the other terra-fluffs. So where was Fluffy? Suddenly Branch felt several sharp pains stab into his backside causing him to yelp in pain.

"OWWW!!" He cried, Fluffy had sneaked up behind him and bit him on the butt, she held on for a couple of seconds before letting go and running to Poppy.

"Are you okay?" Poppy asked Branch who was rubbing his rear. Poppy tried very hard not to laugh.

"Never better!" he replied sarcastically, Tekai on the other hand was on the ground laughing hysterically, tears forming in her eyes, slamming her fist into the ground. Branch glared at her not impressed.

"OH MY GOSH!" she panted while still laughing, "that just made my day."

After finally getting Fluffy to leave the vet Poppy, Branch and Tekai made their way to the edge of the village where Tekai said goodbye to them.

"Aww bye Tekai." Poppy cooed as she threw her arms around Tekai bringing her in for a hug nuzzling her face into her ear.

"Poppy what did we say about boundaries?" Tekai asked, annoyed trying her best to get Poppy to let go.

"Sorry Kai, you're just so cute and furry." She said as she let the rivered troll out of her grip, Tekai then approached Branch.

"Hey Branch?" Tekai asked, "I was wondering if you wanted to meet up at some point."

"Why?" he asked, confused.

"It would be nice to get to know another troll who appreciates lykars as much as me."

"Sure, why not?"

"See ya." She said as she waved to him.

"I think you two got along really well together." Poppy told Branch as they made their way back to their village.

"Yeah she's alright." Branch admitted, "but I don't think she reacted well to being called short."

***

"Spirit," Askar whispered, "Spirit wake up." Spirit lifted her head and scratched her eyes with her claws.

"Askar?" She yawned, "what's going on?" Askar used his nose to point over to the edge of one of the concrete pools, Spirit dove off the ledge that she was sleeping on and into the water with Askar following behind. They swam over to where he was pointing, Spirit slid out onto the ledge and raised her head to try see what was going on. When she realised what was happening her eyes widened. "The truck," she gasped.

"They called the truck in, they're going to take you to...the place." Askar was in disbelief, he didn't want to lose his best friend. "You have to get out of here." Spirit nodded back.

Spirit was in one of the tanks when the trainers came out with ropes, they threw one around her neck and one around her tail and they pulled her out onto the ledge. Spirit started thrashing around squealing and grunting desperately trying to escape until she whipped her head around and grabbing the rope in her jaws, pulling it from the snatcher's hands then she got to her feet, lucky for her the snatchers had left the metal gate open when they came in so she made a break for the gate leaving the snatchers behind in her dust.

"Didn't I tell you to shut the gate you idiot!" One of the snatchers scolded at the other.

"Didn't I tell YOU to shut the gate?!" He scolded back.

Spirit ran out of the gate, through the main offices inside and out of the main entrance, she didn't look back she only thought about what to do now. She had nowhere to go now and if she returned to the aquarium the snatchers would have her killed. A thousand regrets ran through her mind as she reminded herself why the snatchers were going to take her to grey truck, every lykar that was sent on that truck never returned. Just like her mother did. Spirit's head was in the clouds and she didn't notice a spear fly past her stabbing the ground just centimetres away from her, she kept on running but then stopped dead in her tracks. She forgot about the ropes that were around her neck and tail and they got caught on the spear that was thrown into the ground, she tried to pull away but the ropes were all tangled up, she heard the snatchers chasing her, shouting and yelling at her but she didn't stop tugging on the ropes. Another spear was thrown cutting across her shoulder, Spirit grunted in pain but she didn't stop pulling. She looked down at her shoulder and saw fresh blood start to pour out of the wound, she didn't let that stop her and with one final tug the spear snapped, untangling the ropes and she was free. She ran towards the cove and dived into the water, she dove deep into the water so that the snatchers would lose sight of her and when the coast was clear she swam back up to the surface. She was exhausted, she struggled as the ropes continued to get tighter and tighter around her body, her limbs couldn't take it any longer but she tried her best to force them to keep going but she began to grow tired.   
Spirit looked up at the crescent moon shining into her blue eyes, her vision was fading, she could feel the world around her spin as if she was in a twister. She looked at her shoulder again her grey fur was stained red with blood. As she looked up at the moon again her eyes began to slowly shut until all she could see was darkness.


	4. Leave her alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the kind of sad beginning of this chapter :P  
> Enjoy :)

The next morning Branch was down by the lagoon, he hadn't been there for years, he never really had time and because...it brought back a lot of memories. He would stay here for hours and hours playing with Spirit, she made him feel...happy but it was never enough to bring his colors back. As happy memories skipped through his mind he sighed as when he remembered the bad things that has happened at this lagoon. When Spirit was captured, when the entire pod of lykars disappeared but what hit him the hardest was just after he lost Iris.

***  
10 years earlier.  
Branch slowly opened his eyes and looked around. It was quiet. Too quiet. The back of his head stung, he gently lifted it up and rubbed it, trying to sooth the pain. He sat up still dazed, he tried to remember what happened...  
It was just him and Iris strolling along the outskirts of the village until two large figures approached them. Branch couldn't remember what they were talking about but the last thing he remembered was one of the figures grabbing his tail and trying to pull him away from Iris then it picked him up by the tail and threw him against a tree, knocking him unconscious.  
When the pain in his head started to fade he realised something. Iris was gone. Branch looked around and called out to her.

"Iris!" He called then he pricked up his ear to try and hear a reply. Nothing. "IRIS!" He shouted even louder. Nothing. Branch began to panic, he got up and searched the entire village calling for his sister. He stopped to ask some of the other trolls but they hadn't seen her, some of the trolls he asked wouldn't respond because they couldn't understand Branch from all his panting and sobbing, one troll tried to calm him down but he just ran away.

It was late at night and Branch was sitting by the edge of the lagoon he stared at the water with the moon's reflection rippling in the water. Branch had been searching for hours but there was no sign of her, he began to think that Iris was gone. He started to cry, tears began to stream down his cheeks. He lifted his knees and folded them into his chest and wrapped his tail in front of his feet. He sunk his head between his knees and sobbed.  
After a while he lifted his head up, his eyes were stained red from the crying, he used his vest to dry away the tears. He felt something pin into his side, it wasn't sharp it just felt pointed. He reached into his pocket and took out his pendant, he watched the blue crystals in it shine with the moonlight. Iris had one exactly like it but with purple gems matching her skin, now that he was grey the gems didn't match his skin anymore. Tears started to flow from his eyes again and he was breathing hard through gritted teeth. He clenched the pendant in his fist and threw it far into the lagoon just like when he threw his hug time bracelet away all those years ago.

***

The lagoon had changed a lot since that day, when the sea lykar pod left the rivered trolls used the it to train their lykars in order to ride and race them and since then it looked less like a lagoon and more like and arena. The waterfalls never ran, the rocks on the edges were starting to crack and fall apart and the entrance to the open ocean at the far end was blocked off. It was hard to imagine that this was a beautiful haven for lykars all around.

Branch heard a voice say his name, he turned around and saw Poppy, he smiled at her as she sat down next to him.

"What are you doing here Branch?" Poppy asked. "I never see you at the lagoon anymore."

"I haven't been down here in years," Branch sighed, "not since Iris..." his words trailed off, he didn't want to finish the sentence but Poppy knew exactly what Branch was talking about, he was still sensitive about the loss of his sister. Poppy wrapped her arms around him and brought him in for a hug.

"It's okay Branch," Poppy reassured her friend as she stroked his head.

"I wasn't going to cry," he grunted, Poppy just smiled at him causing him to smile back but the moment was broken when Poppy noticed Branch's ear twitch.

"Aww," she cooed, "you're so cute when you do that." Branch didn't say a word, he could hear something. He perked up both his ears and listened. "Is something wrong?" Poppy asked but Branch shushed her. Branch's ears started to move in all sorts of different directions trying to hear where the noise was coming from. His eyes widened and without saying anything he ran off towards the noise, Poppy ran after him. "Branch, wait up!" She called out to him but he didn't respond, she caught up with him and tried to reach out and grab hold of his tail to slow him down but Branch was just too fast. He was running towards the beach, it was close to the lagoon but they had to keep the two areas separate because when the lykars were still there they would swim into the water and chase all the trolls out. Poppy wasn't looking where she was going and didn't notice that Branch had stopped dead in his tracks causing her to run straight into him and knocking him over. Branch glared at her. "Sorry Branch," she said as she helped him up.

There was a huge crowd of trolls, Branch and Poppy passed through the crowd to see what was going on. They gasped. On the side of the shore was a beached sea lykar tangled in ropes and covered with cuts and bruises, it's eyes were closed. Branch slowly walked towards it.

"Hey! Be careful," one troll called out.

"It's okay," Poppy called back, "he knows what he's doing." Poppy knew that Branch knew a lot about lykars so she let him continue.

"Is it dead?" Another troll asked, no one responded. The lykar wasn't moving. Everyone went silent. The lykar lifted its tail and slammed it on the floor then it let out a grunt. Branch made his way towards the lykar's head, its eyes were struggling to stay open then it looked up at Branch. He reached out his hand trying to stroke it but the lykar growled at him.

"You poor thing," Branch whispered, looking down the lykars body. Poppy stepped forward.

"Is he going to be okay?" She asked Branch.

"It's not a he, it's a she and I really don't know if she'll be alright." Branch answered. The lykar had ropes that had tangled tightly into her skin, one was wrapped around her tail and dorsal fin and another was around her neck and inside her mouth and because it was so tight she couldn't get it out herself, she was covered in bruises and had a huge cut down her shoulder. "Okay, first we need to get these ropes off of her." Branch said firmly, he made his way towards the back of the lykar's neck and tried to untangle the ropes. The lykar didn't understand what was going on, she let out a low growl and whipped her head round attempting to snap at Branch's tail, it startled him but his tail was still intact.

"Yeah I don't really want to lose a limb today," Branch said to the lykar then he turned to Poppy, "I don't know how we're going to get these ropes off her, she won't let us remotely near her." Poppy had an idea, she called out to Biggie who was amongst the trolls in the crowd.

"Biggie, do you have any cupcakes on you?" She asked.

"As a matter of fact I do." The big blue troll replied as he grabbed a cupcake from out of his hair and tossed it to Poppy. She then approached the lykar offering her the cupcake. Branch face palmed himself, he knew this was going to go wrong. Poppy placed it near the lykar's mouth but the lykar just snarled and hit it away with her snout. The crowd of trolls gasped. They couldn't understand how anyone could not like cupcakes.

"Well that worked." Branch said sarcastically while rolling his eyes then something caught the corner of his eye. A lykar running on the outskirts of the forest with a little brown speck on its back. That wasn't any brown speck, it was Tekai riding on Manta. Branch knew that she could help. "Hey Ketai!" Branch called out. Poppy glared at him.

"It's Tekai." Poppy corrected him, "Tekai!!! Come over here!" She called, their callings got Tekai's attention and when she saw the sea lykar she ran as fast as her legs...well leg could take her but when she got to the crowd she received a lot of stares and whispers from the other trolls, she ignored it and focused on the lykar.

"Whoa, where did it come from?" Tekai asked.

"She was here when we found her." Branch replied, "the only problem is that we can't get these ropes off of her without her trying to kill us." Tekai approached the lykar with her hand out, the lykar started to growl again but Tekai didn't back away.

"Easy, easy," Tekai repeated "we're just trying to help you." She gently placed her hand on the lykar's snout and took a pocket knife out of her belt then she started to cut free the ropes in her mouth, when the ropes were removed from her mouth they left small scars down the corners of her mouth. Tekai moved down her body to deal with the rest of the ropes. The lykar rested her head on the sand and looked at Branch, he knelt down by the lykar's head and placed his hand on the bridge of her nose. Branch looked into the lykar's eyes. She looked...familiar.

"We have to get her out of here as soon as possible." Tekai stated, "if we hurry then hopefully the rivered trolls won't notice her." Branch looked confused.

"What'll happen if they find her?" He asked.

"They'll take her in to be trained."

"They can't just steal a sea lykar from the wild." Branch couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Try telling that to Clay." Tekai finished cutting off the last of the ropes and looked at the scar on the lykar's shoulder.

"Does it look bad?" Poppy asked, concerned.

"Not too bad, it is starting to heal up." Tekai stated, "now we just need to get her to stand." Poppy, Branch and Tekai started pushing the lykar trying to get her to stand up. "Don't just stand there staring at the sun," Tekai snapped at the crowd of trolls, "help us!" They all came to help the lykar to her feet and soon she was standing up and walking on her own, she wasn't limping which was a good sign. She was free to go. The lykar turned to the trolls.

"It's okay, go." Branch said to her. The lykar ran into the water and swam off, leaping into the air to say goodbye. Everyone cheered.

"If she follows the right current, she should be able to find her way back." Tekai announced.

"I just hope she'll be able to find her pod," Branch said, concerned.

"Well they couldn't have gone that far." Tekai reassured him.

***

"At last, I'm free," Spirit said to herself as she swam, "no more cages, no more slavery, just swimming off into the sunset." In the back of her mind she thought about the trolls that helped her, she never thought she would ever see those colorful, fuzzy-headed creatures again then she thought about that blue troll that knelt down beside her, why did he look so familiar? "Oh well," Spirit thought, "probably never see them again."  
She noticed that there was a blockage of rocks ahead of her which meant that she couldn't swim for much longer so she made her way towards the land and started to run across the shore, she came across the other side of the blockage and saw something that she hadn't seen in years. The lagoon, her birthplace. It looked different. Like one of those concrete tanks that she had to grow up in. She slowed down and took some time to gaze at her old home, it still looked the same but it seemed that all the life and been drained out of it. She walked up to the glass panes, she remembered that little, grey troll that would come to visit her everyday, she would have so much fun with him, she would copy everything he did behind the glass panels, she let him ride on her back and that trick they did when she would jump and spin in a corkscrew over his head.  
Spirit realised that she was wasting time and had to get moving, she ran off as quickly as she could remembering the brown troll's words, that she couldn't be seen by the rivered trolls.

***

"Are you ready for the race today?" One rivered troll asked the other.

"Surely you mean am I ready to win? Then yes." The other said modestly.

"Oh yeah? Well if you think that you could..." The troll was interrupted when the other was staring at something behind him. A sea lykar running down on the shore.

"Look at that sea lykar." The troll said in awe, "it's incredible." Then a smirk spread across his face, "what we could do with a sea lykar," he laughed.

"Face it Clay you won't have the best lykar in the village now will you?" The two trolls mounted their lykars and made their way down to the shore.

***

Spirit could see the way out, she was almost free. She knew that she had to get out of here as fast as she could.

"Almost there," she panted, "almost there." But before she could make it a lykar rammed into her side knocking her off track. There was a rider on the lykar, she knew this was bad and that she needed to escape. She sprinted faster than she had ever done before but another lykar with a rider stood in the way of the way out, the lykar was bigger and stronger than her and she couldn't get past it so she turned and started to run into the forest with the lykars hot on her tail. She had to outrun them, but how?

Tekai was with Branch and Poppy, since their villages were close to each other they walked back together.

"So I'm guessing Fluffy wasn't pleased to see you Branch was she?" Tekai laughed, Branch just rolled his eyes.

"You see? That's the reason I don't have a pet, they would find a way to hate me no matter what." Branch grunted, Tekai and Poppy started to laugh but were soon interrupted when Manta started growling.

"What is it buddy?" Tekai asked Manta, his ears perked up, he heard shouting and soon enough the trolls heard in too. Tekai squinted to try and see what was happening. She saw the sea lykar they rescued being chased by two riders.

"HEY!!" Tekai shouted at them and without hesitation she mounted Manta then she looked at Poppy and Branch, "You guys coming or what?" She helped them get onto Manta's back and told them to hold on, they didn't really know what to hold on to so they just held on to each other and hoped that they wouldn't fall off. Manta was off like a bullet, trying to stop the riders and getting the sea lykar to safety.

Spirit noticed that they were headed towards the rivered trolls' village but there was nowhere else to go so she had to go straight through it. The other rivered trolls got out ropes and attempted to catch Spirit and some even attempted to fire arrows at her.

"DON'T SHOOT, LEAVE HER ALONE!!!" Tekai shouted at them.

Buildings were getting damaged as all the lykars ran through the village, many other rivered trolls started to mount their lykars and chase after Spirit too. Spirit started to weave through the huts and buildings trying to lose the riders, the huts were much smaller than her so she had to try not to crush them or any of the trolls. She finally made her way out of the village and back down to the shore, she looked back and saw that the riders were far behind her so she made a break for the way out. She was almost there, only a few meters away but before she knew it a rope was thrown around her neck and pulled her to the ground, the rope belonged to a mounted rider, how did they catch up to her? She tried to escape but more and more ropes were wrapped round her neck, legs and tail until she was completely tangled up again.  
Manta caught up to the other lykars and Tekai dismounted him with Branch and Poppy following behind.

"Let go of her, leave her alone!!!" Tekai called to them. She tried punching some of the riders in the back and pulling the ropes off of her.

"ENOUGH!!!" A loud, deep voice blurted from behind them. It was a tall, blue troll with dark green hair, he had a short beard that was the same color as his hair and he carried a staff and he too was riding a sea lykar, it was muzzled up and covered in scars. "What's going on?" He firmly asked.

"That's Clay," Tekai whispered to Poppy and Branch, "the biggest jerk on this side of the cliff."

"We caught a sea lykar down by the shore." One of the riders responded, "she tried to escape sir." Clay dismounted his lykar,approached Spirit and looked at her in the eyes.

"Still a youngster but she'll be good help." He stated, Spirit lashed her head and tried to snap at Clay, he smacked her on the side of the head with his staff causing her to yelp.

"Hey!!! Leave her alone!!" Branch yelled. Clay perked up one of his ears and turned to Branch.

"Excuse me, what did you say?" Clay asked angrily.

"Oh sorry if you couldn't hear me but I said 'leave her alone!'" Branch replied sarcastically. Clay came face to face with him. Branch was a lot shorter than Clay so he had to turn his head upwards to face him.

"You better watch it big ears." Clay stated to him, Branch glared back, hurt.

"Back off Clay!" Tekai snapped.

"Don't you start Tekai!" Clay snapped back at her, threatening to hit Tekai with his staff.

"Chief Clay, I'm queen of the trolls and I say let the poor thing go." Poppy blurted out. Clay was amazed by the young queen's bravery.

"Queen Poppy, you rule your music trolls your way and let me rule my people in mine." Clay turned to Spirit again and pressed the end of his staff on her snout, "let's get you to the training arena."


	5. Taming the beast

Funny to think that the lagoon that Spirit lived at for the first few years of her life was turned into this. When rivered trolls found new lykars around the island they would immediately take them to the lagoon to be trained but no one could call it a lagoon anymore. Not only was it falling apart but it was as if the fear of the many lykars who had their freedom stolen from them had stained the area. Would it ever be the same haven that Spirit used to know?

The rivered trolls led Spirit into a small pen and attached a rein onto her followed by a muzzle.

"Not the muzzle," Clay said from behind them, "I want to see what this sea lykar is capable of." Spirit glared at him and snarled but Clay just smirked at her. A gate was opened in front of her, she was pulled by a rope around her neck held by two rivered trolls, forcing her to swim through it. She found herself in the lagoon. Memories took over her mind as she remembered swimming with her family when she was still a calf, not a care in the world and now she comes back to see that it was just like the concrete tanks. Many rivered trolls gathered around the glass panels to watch Spirit. Tekai, Branch and Poppy tried to see what was happening and Branch gasped when he saw the rein around the lykar's head.   
The two rivered trolls holding the rope pulled her towards the side of the lagoon, the rocky edges scratching her side. One of the lykar riders mounted Spirit, she jolted trying to get him off but he knelt down on the back of her neck and grabbed one of the straps on Spirit's rein.

"Ready?" The rivered troll holding the rope asked. The one on Spirit's back nodded, the rope was untied from her rein but Spirit didn't move.

"Oh you want to play do you?" She thought to herself, "fine let's play." And with one beat of her powerful tail Spirit was off like a shot with the rider holding on for dear life, Spirit started getting faster and faster until the rider lost grip of the rein and was hanging on by her dorsal fin which gave Spirit an idea, she swam towards the glass and smacked her back against it which made the rider leg go. Tekai started laughing.

"What? Are you not going to try train her?" Branch asked Tekai.

"Nah, it's way more fun watching them try and fail, now I wish I brought some popcorn." Tekai laughed. A couple of music trolls came to see what was going on, they didn't really understand what was happening but they just watched. The rivered trolls helped the rider out of the water and threw the rope around Spirit's neck and took her back to the same position she started at but this time with a new rider.  
He mounted Spirit while another troll tried to untie the rope again but before she could Spirit suddenly swam off dragging both the trolls along with her. She jumped into the air and thrashed her body throwing the two trolls off her back and out of the lagoon. They tried it over and over again but Spirit just kept on throwing the off hitting them against the glass and even smacking them away with her tail flukes. Guy diamond started cheering in his auto-tuned voice followed by Biggie and Smidge. Branch and Tekai walked up to the glass.

"Wow, she's a trickster, isn't she." Branch laughed.

"That's what happens when you try to train a sea lykar." Tekai said. Clay started to get mad.

"Right," he grunted, "when you want something done, you've got to do it yourself." Again, they brought Spirit to the edge and Clay mounted her, one hand on the rein and held his staff in the other. The ropes were dropped and Spirit swam off like a bullet from a gun, jolting her body side to side trying to knock the blue troll off but he didn't loosen his grip. She smacked against the edge of the lagoon but he still held on, she dove down deep, she felt Clay poke her in the side with his staff until she launched herself out of the water and landing belly first into the water. Nothing worked.

"Thought you were tough didn't you?" Clay grinned, he poked Spirit in the side with his staff again. But Spirit wasn't giving up yet. She thrashed her head surprising Clay and started swimming as fast as she could with Clay holding onto Spirit's ears, she quickly dived again, she felt Clay's grip loosen, she spun her head around and grabbed his long, dark green hair in her mouth and started swimming to the surface. She leaped out of the water and threw Clay far into the lagoon.   
Something snapped inside of Spirit, she felt that she couldn't control herself, it was more than anger. She swam towards him, circling him.

"Something's wrong, we need to get Clay out of there. She's going to attack him." Branch announced, "Poppy, Tekai get ready to grab Clay with your hair, Guy diamond, Smidge you go with them. Biggie follow me." Branch and Biggie started banging on the glass trying to get the lykar's attention, she tried to ignore it at first but it soon annoyed her so much that she swam to the glass. Once she was distracted Poppy lashed her hair towards Clay.

"GRAB ON!" Poppy called out to him, Clay grabbed onto Poppy's pink hair, the rest helped her pull him to safety. Spirit was still swimming towards the glass and didn't show any sign of slowing down or stopping.

"Er...was this part of your plan Branch?" Biggie questioned.

"Um...more or less." Branch gulped, "RUN!" but before the two trolls could run very far, Spirit rammed head first into the glass panel smashing a hole in it as the wave of water swept Spirit through the hole and onto the shore, the impact of the wave knocked Branch and Biggie over.   
They both sat up, trying to recover from the wave. Branch tried lifting himself off of the ground but stumbled over. Spirit shook her head, still sore from ramming into the panel, she looked at Branch and Biggie and she snarled. The two trolls gasped as Spirit lashed towards them but before she could even touch them a rope was thrown around her neck pulling her away from them, rivered trolls riding lykars pinning her down to the ground, they attached a muzzle onto her snout, preventing her from trying to bite the the trolls. Poppy ran towards Branch and Biggie.

"Are you guys alright?" She asked concerned.

"Ow, Head rush." Biggie said as he rubbed the back of his head. Poppy turned to Branch, he looked in pain.

"Ugh, I think I sat on a piece of glass." Branch moaned.

Clay stomped over to the hole that Spirit left embedded in the glass and glared at her.

"Tekai!" Clay shouted angrily, Tekai ran over to him, "round up the riders and get the animals to move the rocks to block the hole."

"They're called lykars Clay." Tekai spoke through gritted teeth.

"I don't care, just get them to block the hole!" Clay snapped. Tekai sighed and whistled to call Manta then she went to help the other trolls patch up the hole with rocks.

***  
Branch watched Spirit trying to struggle out of the muzzle, she made several squealing sounds as she tried to claw it off of her snout which made Branch cover his ears, he hated to hear a lykar in pain. The sounds coming from the lykar caught Tekai's attention, she climbed up and onto the edge of the lagoon, stuck her hand in the water and started moving her hand around trying to get the lykar's attention, Spirit swam over and looked at the young rivered troll. Tekai looked around to see if anyone was watching her, completely unaware that Branch was, she took out a small knife from her belt and cut the muzzle off of Spirit's rein then she walked down towards the glass panels where Branch was.

"Why did you do that?" Branch asked. Tekai shrugged.

"She deserves better." She replied.

"So what are we going to do with her Clay?" One rivered troll asked.

"We can't keep her here. She's too dangerous. She's a monster. I think that the aquarium over the cliff may be the best place for her." Clay announced. Tekai's big ears pricked up when she heard Clay mention that.

"We can't send her there!" She interrupted, "she belongs in the wild!" One rivered troll stepped in.

"We can't just throw her into the wild without her pod, she wouldn't survive," he said concerned.

"But she doesn't belong in captivity, she deserves to be free," Tekai started.

"Tekai stay out of it!" Clay blurted. Branch looked at Tekai, he saw how hurt she looked when Clay scolded her then he looked at the lykar circling the lagoon and placed his hand against the glass, the words 'she's a monster' echoed in his mind.

"No," Branch spoke, "the kid is right, this lykar doesn't belong in an aquarium." Clay just glared at him.

"We are going to try to train her again in the morning." Clay said.

"It won't work." Branch stated, "she's a wild animal, she isn't going to listen to you, she's not going to wear a rein and act as your horse." Clay was speechless.

"Oh please, it's an animal, it doesn't know anything." Clay rolled his eyes. Branch lowered his eyebrows.

"She is not just a dumb animal, lykars are intelligent, amazing creatures." He said angrily.

"And you think that you can do better to train her?" Clay questioned.

"Better than you are." Clay's eyes widened at Branch's words.

"Very well then," Clay spoke, "if you can get this beast tamed and be able to ride on her back around the perimeter of the lagoon by the end of the next fortnight then we will sail out there and find its pod. However if you don't we will send this lykar to the aquarium. That's only two weeks, It's your call."  
Branch hesitated, the truth is that he didn't know if he could tame the lykar but then again he couldn't let her spend the rest of her life swimming mindlessly in circles in a concrete tank.

"Okay, by the end of the next fortnight," Branch agreed.

"Now it might be best to have some back up, which is why-" Clay picked up Tekai by the tail and dropped her next to Branch, "Tekai will be helping you." Branch and Tekai's eyes went wide.

"What?!" They both questioned.

"No, there is no way that I am working with her," Branch stated.

"Couldn't agree with you more big ears," Tekai added, Branch felt a little hurt.

"Well if you fall in the water and this lykar attacks you then who's going to help you?" Clay teased. Branch knew it was best to just agree with Clay, he was already on his bad side and he doesn't want to get on his worst side.

"Fine," Branch groaned. As soon as Clay left Branch and Tekai turned to each other.

"Okay look, this isn't going to work," Tekai said.

"Yeah," Branch replied.

"But then again if you do somehow get attacked-"

"I can't work with some kid," Branch interrupted. Tekai froze and her eyes widened.

"Kid!?" Tekai scolded, "you think I'm just some useless little kid?"

"No Ketai, I know you're a useless little kid," Branch teased, "I mean you're what 11, can't ride a lykar without crashing into anything?"

"Okay first of all my name is Tekai not Ketai, second of all I'm 19, luckily I'm not an old grumpy man like you, and third of all I know more about lykars than anyone in the entire village!" Branch just rolled his eyes and scoffed. Tekai snapped her fingers and before he knew it Manta was behind Branch snarling at him. Branch's ears rose in fear and he tucked his tail between his legs, he screamed as Manta opened his jaws and snapped them at Branch just inches away from his face.

"Ha look at you, you are just a scared little baby," Tekai laughed, "Fine then, I know when I'm not wanted. Who knows? Maybe by the end of the fortnight you'll need one of these." Tekai pointed to her prosthetic leg. She mounted Manta and rode off into the forest.

"What was that?!" Poppy shouted at Branch, "she could've helped you!"

"What? She's a kid she wouldn't have been much help."

"Uh...genius, she is one of the best lykar riders on this side of the cliff"

"Ah well at least I have you."

"Oh no sorry Branch but I'm out of this one, I don't know anything about these lykars, you're on your own." Poppy smiled, she knew how to get under his skin.

"Poppy, I can't do this on my own!" Branch blurted.

"Huh funny that's not what you thought two minutes ago." Poppy smirked as she walked off leaving Branch completely speechless.

"Whatever!" Branch called out to her, "I can do this, it runs in my family!" Poppy laughed as she heard Branch grunting.


	6. Training starts

Spirit looked up into the night sky, the stars shining into her blue eyes. She was thinking. Her mother dreamed of one day returning to the lagoon, she promised Spirit that they would go out into the endless ocean and find her father Kotar and her brother Storm. Spirit looked around. Is this the lagoon that Kayla would want to return to? What was once a safe haven for lykars was now plagued with fear and misery. But she's gone now. 10 years in captivity and never got to feel the ocean's tide on her skin again. Memories danced though Spirit's head as she looked around the lagoon, she remembered the races her and Storm would have, she may not have beaten him at racing but she was the highest jumper by far, then she remembered sliding out on the edge of the pool side with Askar and the crowds cheering at the stadium, she remembered the fun that she and Askar had. They were inseparable but he's still in the stadium swimming in endless circles around the pool. There was no way Spirit could leave him behind but what could she do? If she returned to the stadium she would be put on the grey van and sent to be killed.   
Spirit lay down on the edge of the lagoon and tried to shut her eyes, she felt tears run down her cheeks.

***

Spirit was up early in the morning, she was floating in the water with her head on the surface. Branch came by and crouched down on the edge of the lagoon beside Spirit.

"Hey there." Branch said calmly reaching his hand out to touch the lykar, "I'm sorry you're stuck in here but I'm going to help get you out." The lykar turned around to face Branch and started to growl softly. "I know, I don't want you to be here as much as you do but if you trust me we can get you back into the wild as soon as the next fortnight. What do you say?" Spirit spat water into the blue troll's face and dived underwater. "This may take a while." Branch sighed.

Branch jumped onto one of the rocks further in the lagoon but not so far that he couldn't get back to the edge. He held up a fish with his hair trying to get the lykar to eat it.

"Come on girl, I've got a fish for you." Branch called, he held his nose because the fish smelt horrible, how do lykars eat eat these? But she was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly she jumped up, grabbed the fish in her mouth and splashed back into the water pulling Branch in with her. Branch coughed as he climbed back onto the rock.

Branch wasn't giving up. He held out a stick for the lykar hoping it would distract her.

"You honestly think that I'm a puppy don't you?" Spirit thought. She dove down into the water just under where Branch was holding the stick. She quickly lifted her head out of the water, grabbed the stick out of Branch's hands and went straight back down, Branch knelt down to try and see where she went but she sneaked up behind him and pushed him into the water with her snout. He climbed onto the rock again and glared at Spirit who was smiling at him smugly.   
Branch sat on the edge of the rock with his feet and his tail in the water, he sighed. He felt something tug on his tail but he immediately saw that it was the lykar. She had his tail in her jaws.

"Ow! No stop that!" Branch yelped but the lykar didn't let go, she pulled him off of the rock and swam towards the glass panels, Branch screamed as Spirit dragged him along, then she leaped up in the air, letting go of Branch and smacking him with her flukes onto the shore. He landed on his back with a thud.

"Well it's not going as well as you thought is it?" Poppy joked, Branch sat up and rubbed the back of his head.

"Poppy you need to help me, this lykar is going to be the death of me!" Branch yelled. Poppy stroked his tail which was slightly bruised from when Spirit grabbed it in her mouth.

"You did say that you didn't need any help." Poppy giggled, Branch groaned. "But if you do want help then you know what you need to do."

"I'm not asking that kid for help." Branch grunted. Poppy raised an eyebrow. "Ugh fine!"

***

Tekai was in the stables with Manta, she was feeding him some fruit and scratching him behind the ears which made him make a low groaning sound as if he was purring, Tekai heard a voice.

"I can't believe I'm about to say this but I need your help," Branch said from behind her.

"Well look who came crawling back," Tekai teased, "I'm surprised you haven't lost a limb yet." Branch rolled his eyes.

"Very funny but seriously this lykar is going to kill me!" Branch yelled.

"Well I'd love to help but unfortunately I can't because I'm 'just a kid' and I can't do much." Tekai said sarcastically and she gave him a smug look, Branch groaned when he heard Tekai using his own words against him.

"Look just forget I said that, please help me."

"No, you're not going respect me so I'm not going to help you." Tekai went back to playing with Manta. Branch saw that there was a lykar lying in the straw with a scratch mark down its eye.

"What happened to this one's eye?" Branch asked as he approached it. Tekai made her way towards him.

"She was in one of the lykar races and she got in a fight with another lykar." Tekai sighed. "These races are horrible." She sat beside the lykar and stroked its head.

"Does she belong to you?" He asked.

"No," Tekai replied, "but it seems like I'm the only one in this village that actually cares for lykars, the other riders just use them for races and hunting."

"Look kid, if this sea lykar doesn't let us tame her in two weeks then she is going to end up like these lykars." Branch said, Tekai didn't say anything, "which is why I need your help." Tekai turned to face him.

"Okay, I'll help you."

Branch and Tekai walked through the forest to the lagoon.

"If I'm going to help you then we need to change a few things," Tekai stated, "don't call me kid, short or anything downgrading, got it?" Branch couldn't help but laugh.

"I'm sorry but there's no way I can take that seriously," Branch laughed, "you're short, fuzzy and your ears are bigger than your head."

"Hey! I'm a warrior! You don't want to mess with me!"

"If you were a warrior then why didn't you use your hair to rescue Clay?" Tekai went silent, "when he was in the lagoon Poppy and the others did their best to help and you did nothing, you're just a coward."

"Say that again I DARE YOU!" Tekai said through gritted teeth.

"Coward." Branch teased as he flicked Tekai's nose.

"Okay then," Tekai cracked her knuckles, Branch scoffed. Tekai kicked him in the stomach then in his knees, she stamped on his tail with her prosthetic leg and grabbed him by his vest and pulled him so his face was just centimetres away from her face. "Now listen here big ears! I am NOT a coward, I am one of the toughest trolls there are and if you even try to insult me again I will punch you in that big, purple nose of yours!"

"Okay okay!" Branch eyes were wide with fear, "you win, please get your foot off me, I think I'm losing blood circulation in my tail." Tekai let go of Branch and pushed him over so he fell on his butt, he gently lifted his tail. "Ugh I've already had the sea lykar bite my tail and now I just had a metal leg stamp on it."

"Well you've got a tough tail haven't you," Tekai smiled then she pointed to a deep notch near her tail tuft. "A critter bit me and took a chunk out of my tail, you get used to it."

"Well I think that this sea lykar is a little bigger than a critter," Branch laughed.

When they got to the lagoon, Spirit was floating near the surface of the water, her eyes were open but she wasn't moving.

"She doesn't look that happy," Tekai said as she watched her through the glass panels but Branch just stared at the lykar. "Are you okay tough-tail?"

"I don't know why but she just looks so familiar," said Branch, "also why did you call me tough-tail?"

"The nickname is growing on me, I think it's cute." Branch just rolled his eyes at Tekai's comment.

They started to try and tame Spirit, they tried feeding her fish, reaching out to pet her, giving her back rubs but nothing worked, Spirit just pulled them into the water, threw them into the air and attempted to bite them. Branch and Tekai crawled onto the lagoon edge for what seemed like the hundredth time, they lay down on the rocks and panted.

"Okay so trying to lure her with the entire bucket of fish didn't work," Branch panted. "How many fish have we got left anyway?"

"Dude, she's now eating the bucket! She ate all the fish!" Tekai said.

"Maybe if we..." Branch was interrupted by Tekai.

"Maybe if we what? She's only tried to kill us 6 times!" Spirit then came up and bit Tekai on the leg. Branch gasped.

"Oh don't worry, wrong leg!" Tekai laughed Spirit let go of Tekai's prosthetic and swam away from them. The two trolls watched as Spirit swam around the lagoon. "Is it just me or does she seem really agitated?"

"Yeah she does also I think she's gradually getting slower."

"Do you think she's tired?" Tekai asked.

"I don't know."   
Spirit slid out onto the edge of the lagoon, not far away from where Branch and Tekai were, she was scratching her face, trying to pull her rein off. Tekai started walking towards her.

"Tekai what are you doing?" Branch asked but Tekai didn't answer. Spirit growled when she saw Tekai walking towards her. "Tekai stop she's going to kill you!" Tekai reached her hand out and placed it on the lykar's snout, Spirit stopped growling.

"Easy," Tekai whispered to her, then she attempted to take off the rein but Spirit started to snarl again. "Heh you don't scare me." She undid the buckle of the rein and slipped it off of Spirit's head. Spirit looked into her eyes as if she was thanking her and then ran off and dived back into the water. Branch stood next to Tekai.

"How did you do that?" He asked her.

"She needs to know that we're not a threat," Tekai whispered into Branch, "And that stupid muzzle wasn't helping at all." Spirit seemed a lot calmer with the muzzle off but Branch could see the marks that it left on her face.

"We'll try again in the morning," Branch stated.


	7. I knew you looked familiar

Branch and Tekai left the lagoon and made their way to the villages, throughout the whole journey neither of them said a word but they knew that they were both thinking the same thing.

"That sea lykar has no idea what's going to happen to her if we don't tame her," Tekai broke the silence. "We can't let Clay send her to the aquarium over the cliff."

"What will they do to her there?" Branch asked.

"Probably what Clay does," Tekai grunted, "use her for entertainment to get them money, Clay doesn't care about any of the lykars, he just throws them in the races and make people pay to see them. I'm sure you guys don't get any problems like that in the music trolls village."

"Believe me, the worst thing Poppy could do is hug a critter until it explodes," Branch laughed, Tekai bursted out laughing.

"Honestly, I'd give anything to have the life you have. You music trolls don't seem have a care in the world and believe me I'd rather deal with the loud noises of all the singing than hear Clay's nagging voice all day, everyday."

"Really? I'd love to live the life that you have, you guys are always so practical, if something comes to attack you then you'd be ready in no time to defend yourselves." Tekai laughed at Branch's words but he didn't understand why.

"Branch, you do NOT want to grow up here," Tekai stated, "you see, you music trolls are always there for each other, you have each other's backs but with rivered trolls it's every troll for themselves."

"It's no troll left behind for us." Branch smiled, Tekai smiled back but it immediately turned into a frown.

"Y'know, if I could be any creature other than a troll, I would be an orca,"

"Why is that?"

"Just look," Tekai said as she pointed to the horizon, "there's a whole world out there and it's the ocean that connects them all, I could finally leave this place behind." Branch smiled at her.

"Well I would be a ground hog so I could live underground and not have to deal with anymore parties." Branch said causing Tekai to laugh.

"Just one random question, are you part rivered troll?" Tekai asked Branch.

"What? why?" Branch questioned.

"Just curious."

"Well my dad was a rivered troll so I guess that makes me half rivered troll, how did you know?"

"Your ears," Tekai said, "they're so different, I've never seen anything like them." Tekai grabbed one of Branch's pointy ears and pulled it closer so she could look at it.

"Ow! Let go of my ear!" Branch yelped but Tekai didn't listen.

"They're nearly the same shape as a rivered troll ear but they're as thick as a music troll's, that's awesome," Tekai was amazed, Branch tried to pull his ear out of her grasp.

"Yeah and they're sensitive too now LET GO!" Branch snapped, Tekai laughed as she let go of his ear.

"So who was your dad? Maybe I know of him." Tekai asked.

"He died when I was only three," Branch replied, "I highly doubt you would know him."

"C'mon just tell me." Tekai said, Branch rolled his eyes.

"His name was Thorn." Tekai's eyes widened.

"Wait your dad was Thorn? The Thorn? Dark blue hair, brown fur?"

"Yeah why?"

"Dude you're dad was a legend," Tekai said, "well to me he was."

"Why?"

"He was the only other rivered troll to actually care about a lykar, he tried to free them. Branch couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Tekai!" A voice called out, it was Clay, "what are you doing?" Clay's voice startled to two trolls.

"I was doing what you told me to, helping Branch tame the sea lykar," Tekai replied sarcastically.

"You're animal got out of the stables again," Clay stated as he pointed to Manta who was minding his own business in the village square.

"He's not bothering anybody just-"

"Tekai get him back into the stables NOW!" Clay snapped, then he turned around and left. Tekai sighed and whistled for Manta.

"I guess I'll see you later tough-tail," said Tekai, she waved at Branch then she took Manta and the two disappeared into the village.

***

"Why did that blue troll who tried to tame me look so familiar?" Spirit said to herself, she tried to think of the trolls she had known when she was a calf but she didn't know many because she only lived at the lagoon until she was five years old which is when she was captured. That orange troll King with pink hair and the huge mustache? No it couldn't be him, the purple troll girl with the two colored hair that used to visit her? No, that couldn't be the one. Then she remembered one particular little troll. The grey troll. The one that played with her everyday, could that have been him?

Branch came to the lagoon and stared at his reflection in the glass panels, he turned to look at the hole that Spirit left in the glass, it was blocked with rocks but only a little bit of the water leaked through. He looked back at his reflection and sighed, then he saw another face in the glass that wasn't his own, it was Spirit's. Her big blue eyes stared into his, Branch placed a hand on the glass and Spirit placed her nose where his hand was. Branch walked round and climbed up onto the lagoon edge, he wrapped his hair around a low-hanging branch and swung over to a rock further out in the lagoon. He sat down and stared into the night sky, many things passed through his mind. He thought about Iris, at first he felt sad when he thought about her but it was taken over by a feeling of anger.

"You said you would always have my back didn't you!" He shouted out into the sky, "and now when I need you you're not here." Branch grunted as he pushed a small rock next to him which landed on his foot causing him to yelp in pain. "Stupid rock!" He grabbed the rock and threw it into the water. He looked down at his injured foot and moved it around, he could see it starting to bruise. He lifted his head up and saw Spirit's head on the surface of the water, looking at him, she looked concerned. "I'm fine, really," he reassured her, he then let out a huge yawn, it was getting late. Spirit copied him by opening her mouth as wide as she could. Branch stared at her confused, "are you copying me?" But Spirit tilted her head. Branch lifted up his arm and watched Spirit who lifted up her pectoral fin, Branch waved his hand and she waved her fin. He reached out his hand in front of her face, she moved her head forward and Branch placed his hand on Spirit's forehead, "you're not trying to bite my hand off, that's a first."  
Branch stood up and lifted his arm high, Spirit lifted her fin again. Branch grabbed her fin and stroked it, he tried to use some of the hand signals he used with the sea lykars when he was a kid.

"Come on, let's see you do some jumps." Branch said to her, he pointed his hand up in the air and Spirit dived down into the water, then she leaped high into the air and landed nose first back in the water. She dived and jumped again in the air and landed on her back, splashing Branch with water. "Hey don't get me wet," he called to her but Spirit went underwater and stuck her tail in the air then she smacked her flukes on the surface of the water and splashed Branch again completely drenching him. "Gee thanks," he laughed.

It was then that Spirit knew that this was the grey troll from when she was younger, no other troll would play with her like that but did he recognise Spirit? Only one way to find out. She dove one last time and went deep into the water then she jumped over Branch's head spinning in a corkscrew. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

"Where did you learn that?" Branch asked amazed, "the only sea lykar that I've seen do that was..." He went silent as he stared at her. "Spirit?" She placed her front paws on the rock that he was on, her upper body out of the water. "Spirit? Is it really you?" He reached out his hand and stroked her big ears. He stared into her eyes. There was only one lykar that had eyes like hers. "I can't believe it! it's really you!" Branch wrapped his arms around Spirit's head and hugged her, tears started to form in his eyes. "My best friend. I thought you were gone." Spirit smiled as he hugged her. "If Iris saw you she would..." He knew Iris would have been thrilled to see Spirit but she was gone. "Iris isn't here girl, she died years ago." Spirit's ears drooped. "She would have been so happy to see you." Branch sighed. He sat back down on the cold rock and folded his knees into his chest, he stared down at his tail that was curled around his feet. Spirit had an idea, something she knew always cheered Branch up when he was younger. She opened her mouth and gently bit his ear, it tickled him so he started to smile but he realized something, her teeth didn't feel that sharp like other lykars, when Spirit let go Branch took a look inside her mouth. Her front teeth. They were worn down. "How did that happen?" He also noticed a dark mark on her chest, it looked like it was in the shape of a whale fluke. "That wasn't there when you were a calf, what have you been doing to give you this?" He asked her but Spirit didn't say anything. "You know, I never actually heard you speak when we were younger," he stated, "can you talk now?" Spirit didn't say a word instead she just grunted. Branch sighed, he knew Spirit didn't belong here and that she wasn't happy that she was. She was a wild animal, she shouldn't have people riding on her back like a circus animal. "I'll get you out of here, I promise." Branch scratched Spirit under the chin, "I have to go, it's getting late. I'll see you tomorrow."

Spirit watched Branch as he left the lagoon, when he was gone she swam towards the edge.

"He said he would help, that he promised to get me out of here," she said, "but what if I..." Spirit remembered what she did to one of the trainers at the stadium. What if the same thing would happen to Branch? "No... It'll be fine. He's my friend." She looked at the far end of the lagoon. There used to be an opening to the ocean but it was now blocked up with rocks so that the lykars wouldn't escape when the rivered trolls trained them. She tried to swim over to it but felt something sting her tail. She stopped and looked at her tail, her flukes seemed bent. They were a little bit sore earlier but she just ignored it but now it was a lot more painful. She tried to swim but it was a lot harder than usual, she forced them and started moving them up and down quicker and made her way to the blockage. Spirit got out of the water and stood on one of the rocks, the blockage was much taller than Spirit expected. It was far too steep for her to climb. She couldn't escape. She could only let Branch try to help, she had to trust him again, like she did when they were kids. But could she still trust him as much as she used to? Her freedom was in Branch's hands.


	8. Something's wrong

Branch walked to the lagoon carrying all sorts of things for Spirit such as a cooler full of ice and fish and a toy that Spirit could play with. He looked through the glass panels and tried to find Spirit but she was nowhere to be seen. He placed his heavy load on the floor and tapped the glass to try and get her attention. Nothing. He squinted, trying to see her in the water. Nothing. Branch was about to walk round and climb up onto the lagoon edge but Spirit jumped into the air, startling him. When she hit the water Spirit came face to face with Branch through the panels.

"Spirit! You scared me!" Branch laughed. Spirit spun her body until she was upside down, then she opened her mouth and stuck her tongue out. Branch laid down on his back so that he was upside down like Spirit and stuck his tongue out. Spirit lifted her tail flukes out of the water and splashed Branch; he stood up and shook himself off. "Very funny," he said sarcastically. He picked up his load and walked to the lagoon edge. He crouched down with his back to the water, he was sorting out the things he brought for Spirit. She was curious about what Branch was carrying so she followed him to the edge. She lifted her head to the surface, trying to see was he was doing. She filled her mouth with water and sprayed it all over Branch.

"You don't think I'm drenched enough?" Branch said to her.

'No, of course not,' Spirit thought. Branch held up the toy for her.

"This is a gift from Poppy," Branch stated. The toy was two dried coconut shells on either end of a piece of rope. Branch tossed it into the water and Spirit grabbed it in her mouth. It made a rattling noise, the coconuts were filled with beads. Spirit started shaking it around, enjoying the sound it made.

"I'm guessing you like it!" Branch laughed. He reached into the cooler and took out an armful of fish, "you haven't had breakfast yet have you?" Spirit swam over to him, Branch dropped the fish in her mouth and scratched her snout. He then took some ice out of the cooler and held them out in front of Spirit. "I remember when you were a calf I would rub ice cubes on your nose, you used to love it!" Spirit sniffed the ice but instead of rubbing her nose in it she opened her mouth and ate it. "Or you can eat it," Branch laughed a little bit puzzled.   
Spirit placed her front paws on the lagoon edge and rested her head on the cold, rocky edge. Branch scratched Spirit behind the ears causing her to make a groaning noise, she was enjoying it. She decided to return the favor by nudging one on Branch's ears with her nose.

"No, stop that! It tickles!" Branch started laughing uncontrollably. Spirit stopped nudging Branch's ear suddenly and made a strange face. "Are you okay?" Spirit inhaled and sneezed right in Branch's ear. "Oh thanks, I suppose I should be grateful for that." He rubbed his ear and smiled at Spirit. Branch didn't notice Tekai come to the lagoon, she was standing by the glass panels.

"Wow! You bonded with her?" Tekai was amazed.

"Well it turns out that I know this lykar," Branch stated, "we knew each other when we were kids. When the sea lykar pod was still living here" Tekai climbed up onto the lagoon edge and sat down.

"Does she have a name?" She asked.

"Spirit." Branch grabbed Tekai's hand and placed it on Spirit's snout. Tekai looked at Spirit as if she had never seen her before, "you've never touched a sea lykar before?"

"No, the pod left this place when I was only eight years old," she said, "I never got the chance." Tekai took her hand off of Spirit's snout and stared at her tail flukes. "Wait a minute," Tekai jumped down onto the ground near the glass panels to get a better look at Spirit's tail.

"What's wrong?" Branch asked.

"Come down here," Tekai called to him, Branch jumped down next to Tekai. "Look at her flukes, they're bent." Tekai was right, the joint that connected her flukes to the tip of her tail was at a bent angle.

"Are they broken? Dislocated?"

"No, otherwise she wouldn't be able to swim at all, but something is wrong." Branch and Tekai knew they couldn't send Sprit back into the wild with her flukes like that. "I'll go get Olive."

"Who?" Branch asked.

"The troll that cared for Fluffy, you met her that day when Fluffy bit your butt," Tekai couldn't help but snicker, Branch glared at her, "she's a vet."

***

Olive knelt down on the edge of the lagoon inspecting Spirit's tail flukes, Branch and Tekai held either side of Spirit's tail so Olive could get a better look at it.

"Well the good news is that they're definitely not broken," Olive stated, "have her flukes been damaged in anyway over the last couple of days?" Branch and Tekai looked at each other, they were thinking the same thing.

"The day we found her," Tekai said, "her flukes were tangled in a rope, do you think that might have caused it?"

"Maybe. The joints in her flukes must have been damaged by the rope, were the ropes wrapped tight?" Olive asked

"Yes, the rope had cut into her skin." Said Branch as he pointed to the visible marks from the ropes on the joint of Spirit's flukes, " is there anyway to help them?"

"It's hard to say but we can't just leave them in the state they're in, otherwise they'll get worse." Olive frowned. "You could try some way to support them."

"Okay, thank you Olive," Tekai said, "you've been a big help." When Olive left the lagoon Tekai and Branch sat on the lagoon edge.

"What do we do?" Tekai asked.

"What CAN we do?" Branch sighed, "you heard Olive, if we leave Spirit like that it'll get worse and if she can't swim with her flukes, she'll die."

"I know," said Tekai, "but we can't let that happen," Branch sighed then he looked at Tekai's prosthetic leg. "Stop staring at it," Tekai said, annoyed.

"Tekai, I have an idea,"

"What? you're going to get someone to amputate Spirit's flukes and replace them with prosthetics?" She said sarcastically, "we wouldn't be able to set her free if we do that."

"No, like Olive said, we need to make something that can support her flukes and keep them at the angle they're supposed to be at."

"Like a brace?" Tekai asked.

"Exactly!" Branch replied. Tekai thought about it for a minute.

"You know, that could actually work, you're not as dumb as I thought you were tough-tail."

"Thanks, I guess. And don't call me that!"

"Why? Everyone needs a nickname," said Tekai.

"Like how Poppy calls you 'Kai'?"

"Yeah that was originally Correy's idea."

"Who's Correy?" Branch asked.

"He's my friend,"

"Oh sure 'friend'," Branch teased, earning himself a punch in the arm from Tekai.

"You can't say anything, I've seen the way you are with Queen Poppy!" Tekai laughed, Branch blushed.

"W-whatever!" Branch said, a little embarrassed, "can you build Spirit a brace or not?"

"Sure I can! But I'm going to need some measurements on Spirit."

"We can do that."

"Okay, give me a week, I can get it done." Tekai announced.

"Alright, I'll see you soon," Branch said as Tekai left the lagoon and ran back to the rivered trolls village.

***

Branch sat in front of the glass panels, he watched Spirit swimming. She wasn't swimming like she should. Instead of gracefully moving her tail up and down to move herself through the water, she was thrashing her tail around. She wasn't used to her tail flukes being at the angle they were left in. Branch took a closer look at her flukes. They were flimsy. A lykar's tail flukes are stiff so they act as an oar to push their body as they swam. But Spirit's flukes weren't strong at all, they flapped like a sheet of paper when she moved it. When the rope was around her tail it damaged the joints in the base of her flukes causing them not to be as strong as they were meant to be and making it harder for her to swim.

"Whoever did this to you should be ashamed," Branch frowned.

"Hey Branch," a voice came from behind him, he turned his head. It was Poppy. "How's everything going with training the lykar?"

"Great!" Branch paused. "Poppy, you remember the lykar pod from 10 or so years ago right?"

"Yeah, they lived at this lagoon."

"Well, this lykar was from that pod. She used to live here."

"Wait I recognize her, she was the one with the beautiful blue eyes," Poppy exclaimed, "just like yours." Branch's face and ears turned bright purple, he never heard Poppy compliment him on his eyes before. He looked down at the ground, hoping that Poppy wouldn't notice him blushing. "My dad used to take me to see the lykars when I was a kid, but this one was my favorite. I remember I would sometimes see you with her. You seemed to have a real connection with her."

"Yeah, Spirit here got me through some really dark times, and when she disappeared I was devastated."

"Spirit? That's an adorable name!" Poppy cooed. She watched Spirit dance in the water. Branch looked at Poppy, then at Spirit. He tapped the glass to call Spirit over. Spirit came face to face with the two trolls and Poppy was in awe by her.

"Come with me," Branch grabbed Poppy by the hand and lead her onto the lagoon edge, they both sat down on the stone and watched as Spirit swam towards them. Branch raised his arm and Spirit copied him, she lifted her flipper and Branch gently grabbed it, tilting it until Spirit was floating on her side. "Go on," Branch said to Poppy, "pet her." Poppy reached out her hand and placed it on Spirit's side. She grinned ear to ear and moved her hand up and down Spirit's side, stroking her.

"Did she like the toy I made her?" Poppy asked Branch.

"She loved it," Branch replied. Spirit started nodding her head causing Poppy and Branch to laugh.

"That's adorable! Did you teach her that?" Poppy asked.

"No, but she does like to copy everything I do." Poppy rested her head on Branch's shoulder and sighed.

"You have such an amazing bond with her," she said as she picked up Branch's tail and started playing with the tuft of hair on the tip of it. "It's a shame she'll be back in the wild in under two weeks." Branch eyes widened, he never even thought about that, but then again with Spirit's tail in the condition it's in, what's going to happen with her? He hoped that Tekai could make a brace for Spirit that she could still use in the wild.

"What are you doing with my tail?" he asked, breaking the silence. He looked at his tuft, it had braids in it. He looked at Poppy with an eyebrow raised.

"What? You said that I was banned from braiding your hair but you said nothing about braiding your tail tuft," Poppy giggled. Branch smiled as he rolled his eyes. Spirit came back towards them with the toy Poppy made for her in her mouth.

"What are you doing?" Branch asked Spirit.

'Come on Branch, let's play!' Spirit said in her head.

"I don't have anymore food for you," Spirit groaned at Branch's response.

"Can't she talk? I remember the lykars in the pod talking when they lived here," Poppy asked. Spirit's ears drooped.

"I don't know, she hasn't said a thing since she's been here." Branch replied. Spirit started waving the toy in front of them.

'I'm waving a rope with coconut shells on either side and you think that means I'm hungry?' Spirit thought again.

"Awww! I think she wants to play," Poppy cooed.

'Thank you Branch's pink friend who smells like flowers and strawberries,'

Poppy took the toy from Spirit and threw it far into the lagoon. Spirit dived underwater and swam to try and retrieve it, accidentally splashing Branch and Poppy with her tail as she left.

"Yeah that happens a lot," Branch laughed as he shook himself dry.

"Branch!" Poppy laughed, "you're just like a dog."

Spirit caught up with the toy and grabbed it in her mouth. She was about to swim back to Branch and Poppy but a sound hit one of her sensitive ears. It sounded like a shriek. A lykar shriek. It was coming from the other side of the cliff. She dropped the toy, swam to the far end of the lagoon where it was blocked and attempted to climb the blockage but slipped on the algae covering it, it was too steep. Branch and Poppy noticed Spirit trying to climb the wall.

"Spirit!" Branch called out to her, but Spirit didn't listen. The two trolls ran across the lagoon edge and stretched their hair to reach the blockage where Spirit was. "Spirit? What's wrong?" Spirit just kept on looking at the cliff, her ears were perked up. Listening. Branch climbed up the wall using his hair to help. He got to the top but didn't understand what Spirit was looking at. "There's nothing there, girl." There was another shriek. Spirit howled back.

"What is that?" Poppy asked covering her ears when Spirit howled.

"I don't know," Branch said as he started walking towards the noise.

"Branch, don't," said Poppy as she grabbed Branch's tail and pulled it, "it could be dangerous." He kept on walking towards the noise, Poppy pulled harder on his tail.

"Ow! Stop pulling on my tail. It really hurts," Branch cried, "we have to go, something could be wrong." Branch realized it seemed that they swapped roles, Branch wanting to go towards the danger and Poppy being pessimistic about it, not like how it was a couple of months ago when Poppy wanted to go save the snack pack from the bergens. Another scream rattled in their ears. Poppy hated the thought of animals being in danger.

"Okay let's go!" Poppy nodded.

Branch and Poppy ran towards the cliff and left Spirit in the lagoon. She knew who was making that shrieking noise.

It was Askar...


	9. Investigating

Branch and Poppy used their hair to climb the cliff. They climbed higher and higher until the ground below them became too hard to see.

"Can you see the top?" Poppy called up to Branch who was ahead of her. Branch stopped climbing and looked up trying to spot the top of the cliff.

"Not yet, but we can't be far," Branch called back to her, "being a troll sure seems to have its disadvantages, if a bergen was climbing this, they would be there by now." The two trolls continued to climb but felt themselves getting tired and weak, their arms and legs were starting to ache. Suddenly Branch let out a gasp. "I can see the summit!" He called down to Poppy, "we're almost there!" Branch swung his hair towards the top of the cliff to grab hold of the edge, he then used his hair to reel himself towards the top.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Poppy shouted as she wrapped her long pink hair around Branch's waist and grabbed his tail in her hands. Branch grabbed the edge of the cliff with his hands and climbed up onto the surface, with Poppy still hanging from his tail. He pulled his tail in and hauled Poppy up. The two of them lay down on the grass, panting, exhausted from the climbing. They looked at the view of the moon's reflection on the ocean, they saw Spirit, still by the rock blockage at the end of the lagoon. She seemed like a tiny grey speck from the cliff.

"We still have to find out where that shriek came from." Branch stated as he stumbled to his feet.

"Branch, relax. We'll find it," Poppy stopped him.

"Don't tell me to relax!" Branch snapped, "it reminds me of Creek. That no good, backstabbing son of a-" Poppy placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Calm down," Poppy said gently. Branch took a deep breath in and out. The two of them walked over to the other side of the cliff's summit. The cliff wasn't too wide so it didn't take that long. They were on the edge and they looked down below them, it looked similar to the side that they just came from. The forest continued, but there was no lagoon, just the open ocean and the shore, but on the shore something caught Poppy's eye. A large building.

"Maybe the shriek came from that building," said Poppy. Branch nodded and agreed to go investigate.

"We just need to get down there, we need to be careful," he stated, "let's climb down, just to be safe."

"Come on you safety nerd! I know a better way down," but Branch wasn't sure.

"You do your way and I'll do mine," Branch was about to climb down but before he could Poppy grabbed him by the hand and ran with him towards the end of the cliff. "Poppy, what are you doing?" but Poppy kept on running, dragging Branch along behind. "Seriously! Let go of me!" They jumped off of the cliff with Branch screaming as he fell. "We're going to die!" Poppy grabbed the blue troll's waist and shaped her hair into a parachute, they started to fall slower. Branch had his eyes shut tight, his tail was between his legs and he was shaking.

"You're safe now," Poppy chuckled, bringing Branch in closer. Branch opened one eye and saw that he was in Poppy's arms.

"For the love of everything good don't EVER do that again!" Branch shouted, his voice was still shaky from the shock. Poppy laughed.

***

"Great," Branch groaned, "the door handle is too heavy to move. Let's just head back." Suddenly there was another shriek, like the one they heard before. It was coming from the building. Poppy spotted something. A vent opening.

"Branch, we can get in through the vents," Poppy exclaimed. There was only one problem. The vent door was screwed on.

"Hold on, I got it!" Branch said as he walked over near the cliff side and picked up a large rock with his hair. The rock was nearly twice the size of him! "Stand back!" He whipped his hair and threw the rock at the vent door causing it to break open. They walked inside and tried to find their way through the maze of shafts. Some of the vents were too steep to climb so they had to use their hair to pull themselves up them. Suddenly a loud voice struck their ears.

"What was that?" Poppy asked loudly. Branch covered her mouth with his hand and shushed her. The voice became two voices. It sounded like a conversation. They followed the voices to find the source. It lead them to another vent cover, they looked through the bars of the cover and saw two people talking.

"Bergens?" Poppy whispered.

"No, snatchers," Branch corrected her. He put his big, pointy ear against the vent cover and listened to their conversation.

"Finally, closing time," one of them said.

"You checked the sea lykars, right?" The other asked him.

"It doesn't matter," he replied, "all they ever do is just float on the surface. That golden eyed one has not been very active since that blue eyed lykar escaped. Only at the shows."

"Blue eyed lykar?" Branch whispered to himself.

"Anyway he's probably fine. C'mon let's just get out of here!" When the two snatchers left the room Branch opened the vent door and jumped down onto the ground with Poppy following behind.

"He said something about a blue eyed lykar," Branch said to Poppy.

"Do you think that could be Spirit?" Poppy asked him.

"I don't know," he shrugged, "we should look around, see if we can find anything." Branch and Poppy split up and investigated their surroundings. Branch found a large door and was curious about what was inside. He used his hair to climb up to the door handle and pushed down on it with all his strength, but it was locked.

"Branch!" He heard Poppy call out, he ran towards her voice. She was standing by a large glass window, he joined her and peered through the window. Outside there were large pools of water. The two trolls used the handle to open the window and ran to the pools. They looked like they were made of concrete, the water was very deep but had some shallow ends. Something caught Branch's eye, a large dark shape in the water. It was a sea lykar, it swam slowly in the water, completely unaware of Branch and Poppy.

"Look at the size of it!" Branch was in awe. He got closer to the side of the pool to get a closer look, but couldn't see it that well as it was too far deep in the water. "This tank. It's so small for it." Branch was right, the tank was only three or four times the size of the lykar which is way too small for its size. He looked to the side of the tank of water, their were two shut gates on either side which lead to two pools. Two very small pools, and inside each of them was a sea lykar, so cramped in the tank. It was hard for Branch to watch.

"Uh Branch, you might want to have a look at this," Poppy called as she pointed to what she was looking at. There was a small wall on the end of the pool and on the other side of that was another tank of water, this time slightly bigger and had glass panels at the front of it, a lot like the lagoon. The two trolls watched the lykar from before swim to it. They walked around the poolside to the glass panels and looked through them. They saw the lykar gracefully dance through the water.

"It's a male, and judging by his size I think he's still quite young, maybe a teenager," Branch said. Poppy looked at him, "what?" He asked her.

"How do you know all that?" She asked.

"I have my ways," Branch replied smugly. The sea lykar had big golden eyes with an orange color surrounding his pupil, he had much darker fur and his flippers were a teal color.

Behind them was a huge seating arena in the shape of a semi-circle. The whole thing was like a stadium, but what was going on in this stadium? A show? The lykar breached out of the water and shrieked, the exact same shriek that Branch, Poppy and Spirit heard from the lagoon.

"This is so wrong," Branch sighed, "these amazing creatures, spending their entire lives in a concrete tank. It's not right."

***

Branch and Poppy left the pools and they went back inside the building and searched for anything else they could find out about these lykars. They stood in front of the large door that Branch tried to get in earlier, but the door was locked and they couldn't find a vent that could get them inside. Suddenly Branch had an idea.

"Poppy, you don't happen to have your scrapbooking stuff with you, do you?" Branch asked Poppy.

"What kind of troll would I be if I didn't carry my scrapbooking things in my hair wherever I go?" She replied as she pulled out glue sticks, scissors, different colors of felt and of course...glitter. Branch grabbed the scissors and used them to try and unlock the door. "Try not to ruin them like you did last time!" Branch put his ear against the lock and heard a click sound, the door was unlocked. But Poppy's scissors on the other hand were bent and broken. Branch hesitated then handed them to her.

"I'll get you another pair for your next birthday," Branch laughed awkwardly, Poppy didn't seem impressed. They pulled on the handle and the door opened; they peered inside. It was a big, dark room, so dark that they couldn't see their own hands in front of their faces.   
Branch cautiously walked in first, Poppy watched him as he disappeared into the dark, then she followed him inside.

"Branch? Where are you? I can't see anything," Poppy said quietly. She stuck out her arms in front of her to try find her way around. She heard a scream of pain come from right in front of her. It was Branch, Poppy had accidentally stepped on his tail. "Oh my gosh! Sorry Branch, I didn't know your tail was there." The color of Poppy's hair changed as she made it glow to try let some light into the room. She looked at Branch who was clenching his tail in his hands. Poppy wrapped her tail around her leg and her ears dropped in guilt. "Sorry Branch," she apologized. Branch glared at her as he made his hair glow too, but even with both their hair glowing they still couldn't see very well, however it was good enough to see a large box shape in front of them. It looked like a desk, they climbed up it with their glowing hair; there was a lamp on top of the desk, Branch walked to it and turned it on. The room became brighter and clearer to see what was around it. It was an office, there were small stacks of paper sitting on the desk and the walls were covered with posters and pictures of lykars.

"There must be some kind of information about the lykars outside. Maybe even Spirit," Branch said as he started looking through all the drawers in the desk, there was a lot of sheets of paper, clip boards and files inside. There was one file that Branch was curious about, it was labelled 'captives'. Could that mean the lykars? "Poppy, I found something!" He called to Poppy who was still on the desk. Branch climbed back on to the desk bringing the file with him.

They slowly opened the file and looked at the first page, it had a year marked on the corner of the page.

"This was from nearly thirty years ago!" Poppy exclaimed. There was a photo of a lykar stuck onto each page, lykars that were performing jumps in the big tank outside. Written underneath each one was the name of the lykar, the date of arrival, age, size and other information. But on most of the pages there was the word 'deceased' written in red meaning that most of these lykars died here. Branch flicked through the pages and saw a repeated sequence of letters followed by a dash and a number. The letters were 'SC-' 'T-' and 'BC-'. Looking through the pages, Branch figured out what each of the letters stood for-

'SC' for 'sea capture'.

'T' for 'Transferred'

'BC' for 'born in captivity'

"Every lykar that has been here has either been captured, born here or sent from another place," Branch sighed.

"But what does the number stand for?" Poppy asked.

"The number of that lykar to come here," Branch pointed at a random page, "see? This lykar was captured from the sea and was the 14th lykar to live here. And this one was born here and was the 21st to live here," he explained as he pointed to another page. They found the pages of the three lykars outside and all three of them were transferred to this place. But there were two lykars that Branch knew well on the pages. SC-31 and SC-32. It was Spirit and her mom Kayla. He read through Kayla's page and found something that made his stomach twist and his ears drop.

"Branch, what's wrong?" Poppy asked in a concerned voice, Branch didn't say a word, he just pointed at the bottom of the page, written in red was the word 'deceased'. Poppy wrapped her arms around Branch who was sulking, staring at the page. Kayla was the first lykar he ever knew, and she was gone. "I'm so sorry Branch." He stayed silent as he turned the page over to see Spirit's page. The photo was of her on her front, on the edge of the pool with her head and tail in the air in front of the huge crowd, she looked so enthusiastic. Just like she always was. But on the bottom of the page the two trolls saw not a deceased sign but a question mark.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Branch muttered to himself.

"Those snatchers said something about a blue-eyed lykar escaping," Poppy stated, Branch's eyes widened, "you don't suppose-"

"It's Spirit," Branch interrupted, "blue-eyed lykars are so rare these days, she's the only one they could've been talking about. This question mark probably means that they have no idea where she is, but I think they're looking for her, they still want her back."   
Poppy tapped Branch's shoulder and pointed to a large map on the wall behind them. It was a map of this island. All over the map there were red circles marked onto it, the snatchers seemed to be searching for something. Lykars. They capture them from their homes and force them to perform in front of huge crowds. The circles were marked everywhere, the other side of the island, in between each of the cliffs, but no circles were marked in the far open ocean; They won't go that far. Branch noticed something, there were no circles marked on the lagoon. If the snatchers searched there and found Spirit, they would put her back into captivity. But when will they search there?  
They needed to get Clay to let them find Spirit's pod and set her free as soon as they could, without her pod, Spirit would be defenceless if anything came to attack her.

A week and a half. That's all the time they have left...

It's a race for Spirit...

Game on.


	10. The Brace

Spirit stared off into the horizon. She watched the sun climb up into the sky, filling it with colors of red and orange. She woke up hours before any other creature in the cove, all she could think about was Askar. The painful shrieking from him last night stabbed her ears, it was all she could hear.  
She would give anything to go back to the stadium and see him again, but if she showed her face at that place again, who knows what will happen to her.  
'You can't change the things you've done,' she heard a voice in her head say. 'Doesn't matter how far away you get from this island, the guilt will cut you like a knife.'   
Spirit thought for a moment. What would happen to her after the trolls set her free? She had to find her pod, her family. Clay agreed to help her find her pod if she proved she wasn't dangerous, but how long would it take to find them? The ocean isn't exactly tiny. What was she to do?   
When Spirit was in the stadium, hours after it was closed, she would sing. Usually at midnight so no one else could hear her. Lykars that came to the stadium were forced not to talk, only communicating to their fellow lykars by using clicks and squeaks. The trainers at the stadium knew that lykars were smart creatures and if they were allowed to speak, they would communicate with the visitors of the stadium. Years ago, during one of the shows, one lykar slid out on the edge of the pool and yelled 'help us, you don't know what they're doing to us'. The snatchers that ran the stadium only cared about the money the lykars made for them, so they sent the lykar away on a grey truck...but he never came back...

But Spirit wasn't in the stadium anymore, surely it wouldn't hurt for her to sing. It was still early in the morning so no one would be awake, she'll stay quiet.

***

Branch couldn't stop thinking about last night, the things he and Poppy found out shocked him. All he wanted to do was set Spirit free before the snatchers find her. Them problem was, they wouldn't be able to release her for another week and Tekai was still working on the brace for Spirit's tail.

A voice struck one of Branch's sensitive ears. It sounded like a singing voice.

"Tell me where did I go wrong? Everyone I loved, they're all gone..." The voice sang. Branch was curious to find out where it was coming from. He used his big, sensitive ears to find the source.

"I do everything so differently, but I can't turn back the time. There's no shelter from the storm inside of me..." It was coming from the lagoon.

"Hello?" Branch called out, the song continued.

"There's no way out of this dark place, no hope, no future..."

Branch called out to it again. "Hello?" Even louder than the first time.

The voice stopped. Branch ran to the shore, trying to find anyone who could have been singing. He only saw Spirit. She was on the edge of the lagoon looking at Branch.

Spirit drew her ears back and gulped, she didn't realize how loud she was singing. There was a part inside of her that didn't want Branch to find out that Spirit could talk, but she also wanted to tell him everything that has happened to her over the last decade and answer his questions about her. Branch approached Spirit slowly and placed his hand on her snout.

"I don't suppose you heard someone singing did you?" Branch asked her. Spirit shook her head. He looked around and saw that there was nobody else at the shore. He looked back at Spirit, confused. "Who could have been singing? There's no one else here...unless..." He hesitated, "...Spirit?...was it you?" Spirit froze, she didn't make any gestures, any sounds, she just stared back into Branch's eyes.

"So how's the training going?" A loud, stern voice called. It was Clay. Branch ran across the edge of the lagoon and jumped down onto the shore in front of him.

"I-it's going great," Branch replied, he was slightly intimidated by Clay and was a little afraid of him.

"Oh really?" Clay said sarcastically, "because I saw you talking to the sea lykar as if it was a person!" He did not seem pleased, this made Branch feel angry.

"Clay, she's not a dumb beast," Branch spoke through gritted teeth, "she's a sea lykar, one of the most intelligent animals in the known world."

"Oh please, they can't even talk."

"Actually, sea lykars can. They're much more intelligent than forest lykars so they..." Branch was interrupted.

"Shut your mouth!" Clay snapped, startling Branch and causing his ears to droop. "If you think you know these animals then let's here this lykar say something." He turned to Spirit, who was underwater looking through the glass, "go on then." Spirit didn't say a word, she just lowered her head. "Intelligent creatures, sure." He said as he walked away back to the rivered trolls' village. Branch frowned and looked at Spirit.

"Come on girl, I know you can talk," Branch pleaded, "just tell me if you can talk and I promise not to tell anyone." Spirit remained quiet, until she let out a squeak. Branch sighed, he placed his hand on the glass. "It's okay girl, I've got your breakfast for you." Branch climbed back onto the lagoon edge and Spirit followed him in the water, swimming slowly with her damaged tail.  
Branch picked up the cooler that he brought with him and moved it to the lagoon edge, he took a handful of fish and threw it into Spirit's mouth.   
When he turned around and crouched down to grab some more fish for her, Spirit placed her front paws on the edge, moved her head to reach Branch and nudged him in the butt with her nose causing him to stumble forward.

"You're so impatient aren't you?" Branch laughed, he took out another handful of fish and gave it to Spirit, she ate it happily while Branch jumped off the lagoon edge and stood in front of the glass panels. Spirit followed Branch until she was face to face with him.  
Branch raised his arm and started waving it, Spirit copied him and waved her flipper. He started walking to the other side of the lagoon, hoping Spirit would follow and she did. Branch broke into a run trying to overtake the lykar but even with her flukes, she was still able to beat him. Spirit got to the other side of the lagoon before Branch did, when he caught up, Spirit stuck her tongue out at him.

"Alright, you win," Branch panted, Spirit collected a mouthful of water and spat it out at Branch. "Okay, I get it! You don't have to rub it in," he shook off his hair then used it to climb up the glass panel and sit on top of it, being careful not to fall off. Spirit lifted her head above the water and rested her nose on Branch's lap, he hugged her close. "I've got to go now, I'll see you later, okay?" Branch patted her on the nose and climbed down the glass and left the lagoon.

***

Branch walked into the rivered trolls' village to find Tekai, they needed the brace to be finished as quickly as possible. He checked to see if Tekai was at the vet helping Olive like she usually does, but she wasn't there.

"Branch? Is that you?" Olive said, Branch gave a little wave to the green troll, "what are you doing here?"

"Do you know where Tekai is? I have to find her," Branch asked her.

"You could check the stables, she'll probably be there with Manta," she replied, Branch thanked Olive and made his way to the stables.

The door to the stables was open and Branch could see Tekai petting Manta and feeding him fruits. She was so focused on Manta that she didn't even notice Branch come in.

"Hey kid," he said, Tekai whipped around in surprise with her fist balled up, ready to swing a punch, she narrowly missed punching Branch square in the nose.

"Oh Tough-tail, it's just you," Tekai relaxed turning back to Manta, "so what brings you here?"

"I just wanted to ask about Spirit's brace, how's it coming along?" He asked.

"I just finished it this morning," she replied, "thanks for your help by the way!" She said sarcastically. Branch felt a little guilty, Tekai had to build a lykar-sized tail brace all on her own and all Branch did was mess around with Spirit in the lagoon.

"About that, me and Poppy found something last night at the old marine stadium," he stated.

Tekai turned to Branch, "you mean the old one over the cliff? What did you find?" She asked.

"The years that Spirit was missing, all along she was in captivity, performing to crowds. But they're still looking for her, which is why we need to get her out of the lagoon before they find out that she's here."

"Just under a week, we have to make it until then."

Suddenly a lykar with its rider came running into the stables and stopped just next to Manta, the rider dismounted.

"Hey Correy!" Tekai greeted the rider.

"Hey there Kai," he said as patted Tekai on the shoulder. Correy was a dark green rivered troll with brown hair, he was a little taller than Tekai and Branch. He wore brown overalls that were ripped at the legs and he had a huge chunk missing from his left pointed ear.

"Correy, this is Branch, I'm helping him train the sea lykar in the lagoon," Tekai said as she pointed at Branch.

"Cool, so you're the one that faced up to Clay?" Correy asked as he patted Branch on the back, Branch nodded.

Correy's lykar was Sparky, Manta's brother, he had dark grey fur with a white face and his eyes were teal around the pupil and faded to yellow toward the edge of his eye. The three trolls watched Manta and Sparky as they played with each other.

"Sparky and I ran like there was no tomorrow," Correy stated, "we went to the lake in the forest and Sparky had a swim."

"I'm guessing that's why he smells so bad," Branch said as he held his nose. Wet dog smell was bad enough, but there was nothing worse than the smell of a drenched lykar.  
There was a small squeak coming from one of the pens.

"Oh, Everest is awake," Tekai stated as she walked to the pen where the noise was coming from.

"Everest?" Branch questioned, he followed Tekai, who was crouching down next to the entrance of pen, Branch knelt beside her and peered through the gate. Inside the pen was a beautiful light grey lykar.

"Hey there old girl," Tekai walked over to the lykar and sat down by her head. "This is Everest." She was lying down on her side with her snout on Tekai's lap. Branch took a step towards Everest but she started to growl, Tekai calmed her down. "Don't worry , he's with me," Tekai reassured her as she stroked her forehead, Branch slowly walked over to Tekai and Everest. "You can touch her," Tekai said, "she just gets wary around new people,"

Branch looked at Everest's eyes, they were beautiful. They were purple around the pupil and faded to blue. He'd never seen anything like them.

"Her eyes are beautiful," he complimented.

"I know," Tekai responded, "she was the offspring of a double blue eyed lykar and a double purple eyed lykar."

Lykars had two colors in their eye. If the two colors were the same but a different shade or tone then it's known as a double colored eyed lykar, and if the two colors are different from each other then it's known as a single colored eyed lykar but with each type the colors blend into one another. Double colored eyed lykars were rare but the fact that Everest was the calf of two double colored eyed lykars and one of them had double blue eyes was unbelievable.

"She's one of the oldest lykars here," Tekai stated, "not to mention one of the fastest in the lykar races."

"She used to race?" Branch asked.

"Yeah, she belonged to my dad and he was one of the best lykar racers around...well...until he died," the tone in Tekai's voice changed. There was a pause. "Then after that I took care of her,"

"She doesn't race anymore though," Correy joined in, "on her last race she broke one of her hind legs," Tekai nodded.

"It did heal, she can walk and slowly run, but she wouldn't be able to race again," Tekai sighed, "which is the best thing anyway, those lykar races are horrible." She stroked Everest's head gently, she turned to Branch, "come on, let's get this brace fitted onto Spirit."

***

Branch and Tekai dragged the brace to the lagoon, Tekai made the brace as light as possible, to the two trolls it seemed heavy but to a lykar it would be a breeze to push it through the water.

"Just to clarify, you did make this thing strong enough to use in the wild, right?" Branch asked.

"Yep, I made it so that when her flukes have healed and returned to the angle they're supposed to be at, the supports on the joints of her flukes will disconnect, and the rest of the brace along with it," Tekai replied, feeling proud of herself.  
Spirit soon caught sight of the trolls and let out a squeal of excitement. Branch could tell that Spirit's flukes were getting worse because she was moving her tail side to side like a shark instead of up and down, it seemed that her flukes weren't able to carry her much longer.

"Branch, if you can get Spirit to the side of the lagoon, I'll put the brace on her," Tekai ordered. Branch sat on the lagoon edge and called Spirit over to him. Spirit floated on her side on the surface of the water, right next to the lagoon edge. Branch grabbed the end of her tail just below the flukes and kept it still so Tekai could fit the brace on.   
Spirit wasn't fully aware of what was going on but she didn't like the idea of it, so she thrashed her tail out of Branch's grip and back into the water. The force of it knocked Branch clean off the edge of the lagoon and into the water. Tekai couldn't help but laugh. Branch surfaced and started to swim towards the edge, but felt Spirit nudge him in the back. She lifted her head out of the water and let Branch climb onto her, then she swam to the edge with Branch on her head, Branch dismounted her on the side of the lagoon.

This time Branch kept Spirit calm when Tekai was fitting the brace, she did growl a little but let Tekai continue.

"If this works, we will be able to get you back in the wild in no time," Branch said calmly to the lykar, stroking her head in a slow rhythm.

"That and you'll have to ride on her back while she swims around the perimeter of the lagoon," Tekai called out, Branch looked at her annoyingly. With a few more clicks, the brace was on. The brace was made of plastic covered with a leather layer, apart from the supports on her tail fluke joints which were made of metal but had a thin cover of leather over them to protect the supports. On either side of the brace there were long supports for Spirit's flukes, to keep them at the right angle so they wouldn't heal in a strange way, there was also a strap at her tail stock (the tip of her tail, just under the flukes) to keep the brace attached to Spirit's tail.

Spirit started swimming, trying to get used to the slightly different weight on her tail that the brace had given. She was able to move her tail up and down with the brace on easily. Her flukes were now more stabilized and looked less flimsy, she could push herself through the water quicker and easier. When she got out of the water and sat on the edge of the lagoon, she curiously looked at the brace attached on her tail and sniffed it.

"Is...is she okay?" Branch whispered to Tekai.

"I don't know," Tekai replied, "but she hasn't tried to rip it off so that's usually a good sign." Spirit dove gracefully into the lagoon again and disappeared underneath the glistening blue water. 

 

Silence. 

 

She didn't surface for some time. Branch was worried. He was about to go to the glass panels to try and spot her, until he spotted dark shadow in the water growing larger and larger, getting closer and closer to the surface. It was Spirit. She leaped out of the water, reaching incredible heights up to over twice the size of her body length. Branch had never seen a sea lykar jump so high.

"Did you know she could jump like that?" Tekai asked him, amazed. Branch didn't reply, he watched in awe as Spirit dived back nose-first into the water. She swam back over to the two trolls, face to face with them.

"Even after a decade, you're still the incredible lykar I used to know," Branch smiled as he hugged Spirit's snout.

"I think it's safe to say that the brace was a success," Tekai stated, Branch nodded.

***

Deep in the woods, a purple troll was working on a map at her desk in her hut that was hidden among the trees, there was a loud knock at the door and entered in a tall, red troll with slightly darker hair.

"Iris!" The troll called out, "the new boss wants to see you," Iris turned to him, confused.

"New boss?" Iris asked, the red troll just stood there and nodded slowly. Iris got up from her desk and followed the red troll. "So who is this new boss?" She asked him.

"Oh you'll know him, I guarantee it," the troll chuckled.

They got to the boss's hut, which was larger than the other huts. The boss was the only one in the dark room, he wore a ripped blue cloak around his shoulders with the hood over his head. He was a troll, the same height as Iris.

"Iris! What a pleasure to see you again," he spoke with an accent. Iris stopped dead in her tracks and pricked up her rounded ears. She recognized that voice. The troll removed the cloak to reveal his purple skin, blue and green hair and an orange nose.

"Creek?"


	11. 11. I'll see you again

"What are you doing here Creek?" Iris yelled, balling up her fists, "I thought I told you that I never wanted to see your face again!"

"Oh come on cousin, can't we just put all of that in the past?" Creek smirked, Iris didn't say a word, she just glared at Creek, "so I see you're still finishing the work your dad started, huh?" He said, breaking the silence.

"Nearly ten years, I'll be released at eleven," Iris stated. Her father was part of a scouting academy, where trolls and other creatures train for a certain amount of years in order to keep the forest and their tribes safe. But unfortunately, he was eaten by a bergen and he still had at least eleven more years until he could be released, so Iris had to finish the trial for him.

"It is a shame," Creek started. Iris perked up her ears.

"What?" She asked.

"Well, you're father kept on leaving as you were growing up..." 

"That might be," Iris said angrily, trying to keep her temper in, "but he always returned."

"Not only that but when he died, he left his trial on your shoulders and here you are, spending over half your life training." Creek spoke. Iris couldn't take it anymore, she whipped her hair at him, wrapping it around his neck.

"It wasn't his fault!" She snapped, "he was a better father than yours! Your dad abandoned me when I was barely a day old!"

"Our dad, Iris" Creek corrected, "you were born to him."

"He is nothing to me!" Iris spoke through gritted teeth, trying to hold back her tears, "I know his wife died while giving birth to me, but he has no reason to throw me out like I was nothing!" Iris paused, then took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. "I don't need you or Zack." Iris always called her birth parents by their first names, she didn't have the courage to call them 'mom' or 'dad'.

"So you're just going to remain alone in the world?" Creek chuckled.

"I'm not alone, I have Branch," Iris said, turning away from Creek, "and as soon as I'm released, I'm going back to him."

"You don't know?" Creek asked, putting a hand on her shoulder, "I came here because I needed to tell you that..." Iris turned to meet his gaze. "Branch is gone..." Iris' eyes widened.

"What?" she asked, tears forming in her dark blue eyes.

"The bergens attacked troll village. They took a handful of trolls, including Branch and myself...he didn't make it." Creek explained. Iris stared at the ground, shaking her head.

"No...no...you're lying," Iris whispered, her quiet voice soon turning into a shout, "all you ever do is lie!" 

"I know it's hard to believe," Creek said softly, "but I'm the only family you have left. He's gone now," tears began to stream from Iris' eyes, down her purple cheeks. Creek started to smile, "I need your help with something..." 

"Creek, I-I...just need some space right now..." Iris sighed as she turned and walked out of the hut, Creek nodded.

Iris sat on one of the tree branches outside her hut, looking up at the stars. She couldn't bare the thought of her little brother being dead. There was a part of her that didn't believe Creek in the slightest, but the other part of her did. Iris remembered the last time she saw Branch. She was sixteen at the time, a year older than him. They were walking around the outskirts of the village, when two larger trolls approached them.

10 years earlier 

The larger trolls didn't look like any troll Branch or Iris had seen around the village, but judging by their brown-orange fur and pointy ears they were rivered trolls.

"You two kids don't seem to know of a troll named Thorn do you?" one of the large trolls spoke in a firm voice, "he's a rivered troll, brown skin and royal blue hair."   
Iris and Branch looked at each other, the description matched their father, even his name. The two of them stayed quiet.

"Got something blocked in your ears? Answer the question!" The other troll snapped which scared Branch, causing him to back away and hide behind his sister.

"He died years ago," Iris replied, feeling a little bit intimidated. Branch poked his head over Iris' shoulder. The larger trolls looked closely at Iris, then at Branch. They took a closer look at Branch's ears.

"Thorn said he had a son with ears like that, wrong colors though. His son had blue skin, not grey...unless..." The troll thought for a moment, "you music trolls can turn grey, can't you?" Branch and Iris remained silent.

"You two are his kids aren't you?" The other troll smirked. "Get the boy, he needs to finish what his father started!" The trolls approached them as Iris shielded Branch from the larger trolls, not letting them touch him.

"Stay away from us!" Iris barked, but the trolls just shoved her out of the way. Branch tried to run away but one of the trolls grabbed his tail, stopping Branch in his tracks. The troll held Branch up by his tail, preventing him from escaping.

"Let go of me!" Branch yelped, attempting to struggle out of the troll's grip. He climbed onto the troll's arm and bit down on his hand hard, causing the troll to yell in pain and throw Branch against a tree. He hit the tree hard. Branch lay there, not moving.

"Branch!" Iris cried, running over to where her brother was lying. He was still breathing, he was just unconscious. She held Branch close in her arms. The larger trolls stomped over towards Iris. "Leave him alone!" she yelled, "take me instead!" The trolls stopped. 

"You?" The trolls laughed. Iris nodded.

"Whatever it is you need me to do, I'll do it! Just leave my brother alone," said Iris, the trolls stared at her, then looked at each other.

"Alright then, come on!" One of the trolls demanded.

"Wait, I can't just leave Branch here!" Iris cried. The troll grabbed her tail and pulled her away from Branch, she tried to hold on to him, hugging him close, "I'll come back Buddy, I promise." She kissed him on the forehead before being pulled away by the trolls.

***  
The trolls brought Iris to the scouting academy, where she had stayed up to now. She took out her pendant that was tucked into her vest. Branch had one exactly like it, the shape of a sea lykar's flukes, but his had blue gems to match his true colors, Iris' was purple to match her's. She stared back at the stars.

"I love you Buddy," she whispered before quietly sobbing into her hands.

***

It was late at night and Branch was sitting on one of the rocks in the lagoon. Spirit was in the water swimming around in circles, starting to get used to the new brace. Branch was so focused on Spirit swimming that she didn't even notice Poppy sit beside him on the rock.

"I've been looking for you all evening," Poppy said, gently. She couldn't help but notice Branch's sad expression, "are you alright?" she asked. 

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just...thinking about Spirit," Branch sighed, Poppy looked concerned.

"What about her?" she asked.

"She's going to be released in a week. I'm happy for her, but I'm really going to miss her," 

"I get it. You two have really bonded. But I'm sure she would come back," Poppy reassured. The two trolls went quiet.

Spirit looked up at the trolls. She could tell by their expressions that they liked each other, she noticed Branch's cheeks and ears darkening. There was a tree branch above Poppy and Branch's heads with beautiful white flowers on it. Using her tail, Spirit flicked water at the branch, causing some of the flowers to fall and drift slowly down around the two trolls, one landed on Branch's head, just behind his ear.

"Aww," Poppy cooed, "that flower suits you," she stroked Branch's cheek, which made him blush. He took the flower from his hair and placed it behind Poppy's ear.

"It looks better on you though, you look beautiful," Branch said shyly, brushing Poppy hair with his hand. Spirit looked at the them, they seemed to like the little flower surprise, so why not give them another one? She swam away from them, into the center of the lagoon, she disappeared under the water for a few seconds and leaped into the air, splashing water into the sky. The droplets that Spirit kicked into the air sparkled in the moonlight as they fell back into the water. Poppy gazed in awe at the sight of it. 

"Did you get Spirit to do this?" Poppy asked, Branch hesitated. Spirit poked her head out of the water and nodded to him.

"Of course I did," said Branch, "I wanted to make the night as beautiful as you." Poppy smiled and blushed at Branch's words. Spirit swam behind the rock that the two trolls were sitting on, she carefully grabbed Branch's tail in her mouth and moved it towards Poppy's, shifting him closer to her, when Spirit let go of his tail, Branch coiled his tail around Poppy's and placed his hand on her hand. He looked into Poppy's eyes and moved his head closer, but he soon snapped out of his trance and realized what he was about to do. "Uh...sorry Poppy..." Branch's cheeks blushed deep purple as he scratched the back of his neck, "I just...I..." Poppy had never seen Branch blush so much, she placed her hand on his cheek and smiled at him, she then grabbed his big ears, pulled his head closer and pressed her lips against his. Branch's eyes were wide, he soon relaxed and returned the kiss, placing his hands on her shoulders. Poppy let go of Branch's ears and moved her hands to his blushing cheeks. Spirit smiled, then she dove underwater to give the them some privacy. Poppy and Branch parted themselves and smiled at each other, still staying silent and looking into each other's eyes.  
Spirit emerged from the water and climbed up onto the far edge of the lagoon, she sighed in relief as she smiled at the two love birds. Her smile soon disappeared as she turned her head towards the rock stack at the end of the lagoon, her ears twitching. There was something on the other side of the stack. She repeatedly smacked her tail against the ground and let out a low growl. (something lykars do when they feel threatened)   
Branch and Poppy noticed Spirit's strange behavior and walked over towards her. When they caught up with Spirit, she darted towards them, she crouched down beside the two trolls with her tail shielding them from the rock stack, she was protecting them. 

"What is it this time?" Branch asked, "this better not lead us on another expedition!" Spirit's growls started to get louder and louder, her eyes locked on the rocks. "Spirit, it's a rock! It's not going to attack us!" Branch said, he was starting to get a bit annoyed, he climbed over Spirit's tail and walked to the rock stack, Spirit snarled and barked at him. "See?" Branch placed his hand on the rock, "it's just a normal ro-" Before Branch could finish, a creature leapt from behind one of the higher rocks and pinned him to the ground. It was another sea lykar. Branch screamed as the lykar growled at him, it's face was centimeters away from Branch's. 

"Spirit! Help him!" Poppy cried. Spirit ran to Branch and knocked the lykar away from Branch, using her head. The force of it knocked the lykar to the ground. Poppy ran to Branch and helped him off of the ground, trying to get him to safety. As for the two lykars, they were face to face, scratching and biting one another. They dove into the water and started to head-butt each other. Poppy and Branch watched in horror as Spirit fought the lykar, their growls and squeals rattled the their ears. The lykar jumped out of the water and on to the lagoon edge, Spirit followed behind and pinned it against the wall of the cliff. The two lykars looked into each other's eyes for a while but soon began to relax, Spirit took a step away from the lykar, they started to sniff each other.

"W-what are they d-doing?" Branch whispered to Poppy, his voice still shaking from the shock of being attacked by the other lykar. Branch noticed Spirit's tail start to wag side to side and a smile spread across her face, she soon let out a squeal of excitement and the two lykars jumped on their hind legs while squeaking and squealing.

"Uh...what's going on here?" Poppy asked, "they were attacking each other just a minute ago." Branch took a closer look at the other lykar, it was the same lykar he saw back at the aquarium on the other side of the cliff, the one with the teal flukes and the yellow, orange eyes.

"Spirit knows him," said Branch, "he's the one we saw the other night, they must have been in the aquarium together." Spirit turned to Branch, he smiled at her. "We'll give you two some time alone." 

Once Branch and Poppy left the lagoon, Spirit turned back to her lykar friend, Askar. She nuzzled her head into his chest as he leaned his head on top of Spirit's. "I missed you, Askar," Spirit sighed, "but what are you doing here?" She noticed Askar's ears begin to droop as he looked down at the ground."

"Well, I overheard the trainers talking and they're going to transfer me to another aquarium," Askar sighed, Spirit's eyes widened and her ears perked up.

"What? To where?" She asked.

"To the marine park near corner's cove," Askar replied, "apparently they only have one lykar left there, so they're going to send me there. That's why I'm here, I tried to escape, but then I heard strange noises on the other side of these rocks and I found you, I guess there's no getting out of here is there?" Spirit couldn't believe what she was hearing. Their plan was to escape and be free together, but it seemed that when Askar gets transferred, they'll never see each other again. After a little bit, Spirit's face lifted.

"Askar, you're in luck because the trolls here are going to release me in just a week, you can come with me and we'll get as far away from this place as possible," Spirit exclaimed, but was confused by Askar's doubtful expression. 

"That's way too big of a risk," Askar said. He pointed at a dark, fluke-shaped mark on his back with his nose, Spirit had the same mark on her chest, "as long as this brand mark is on our skin, we'll always belong to the aquarium. Also the trainers are looking for the both of us and when they discover us in this lagoon, it's game over. I'll be transferred and who knows what they'll do to you because of the...incident." Spirit didn't think about it that way, as soon as they see the lagoon, the snatchers will come looking for them. 

"We just have to hold on until this time, next week. Just trust me," Spirit said confidently, she looked at Askar, her big blue eyes sparkling in the moonlight. Askar let out a sigh.

"Okay," he agreed, Spirit wrapped her neck around Askar's, "but if we get caught, I'm blaming you," he laughed. Spirit smiled, happy to have her friend back.

***

The next morning, Branch and Poppy were walking through the rivered trolls village with Tekai, Branch explained everything about the other lykar.

"So there are two lykars in the lagoon now?" Tekai asked Branch.

"It would appear so, yes," Branch replied, "but at least the new one isn't hostile, Spirit knows him, they have a good friendship." Tekai stopped in her tracks and raised an eyebrow at Branch. "Now I know how this looks,"

"If you didn't, I'd be worried," Tekai laughed, "you know, Clay isn't going to be very please about two lykars in the lagoon." 

"I know, but if we can keep the other one out of Clay's way until the day of the test," Branch started.

"And how exactly are you planning on doing that?" Tekai asked.

"Just leave it to me, okay kid?" Branch patted Tekai on the shoulder and smiled at her. 

"And if all else fails, Clay can have a talk with the queen of the trolls," Poppy added on, causing Tekai to smile.

Suddenly, Correy came from behind the three trolls, "hey guys!" he greeted.

"Correy! What are you doing here?" Tekai asked.

"Didn't you hear? Kona has come back from her travels," Correy announced. Tekai's face lifted.

"Wait, who's Kona?" Poppy asked. 

"She's basically the 'village's crazy lady'," Tekai stated.

"Really? I thought that was your occupation, Tekai," Branch laughed, followed by a grunt as Tekai punched him in the arm. 

"Kona's in the town square," Correy pointed out.

The town square was filled with rivered trolls coming to greet Kona. Every year, Kona spends three months exploring the different areas on the island, visiting new villages, meeting new people, she even finds someway to get herself into trouble every time.

"Kona!" Tekai called as she waved at amongst in the crowd, Kona's pointy ears twitched when she heard her name, she turned to see Tekai and Correy and walks over to them.

"Tekai! Correy! How are you kids doing?" Kona asked as she hugged the two rivered trolls. Kona was quite an old troll, but had a very positive personality. She had brown skin and long, wild green hair, she wore a long dark-brown cloak, but her right arm was missing and her left leg was replaced with a prosthetic. 

"We're great," Tekai replied, "Kona, I'd like to introduce you to Branch and Queen Poppy," Kona bowed before Poppy, then gave her a big hug.

"I'm a hugger, incase you didn't realize," Kona whispered in Poppy's ear, Poppy grinned and squeezed the old troll. "And look at you," Kona turned to Branch, "you're a cutie aren't you?" she said as she hugged the blue troll, Branch rolled his eyes when Kona called him cute. "Well, it was so nice to meet you. Tekai, Correy I'd love to catch up with you two later," the trolls waved to Kona as she walked off. 

"She's so sweet!" Poppy exclaimed, "I haven't had a big, friendly hug like that in a while!" The four trolls were just about to walk off, when they overheard Kona speaking with one of the other rivered trolls.

"How did you get all those scars on your shoulder, Kona? Were you attacked?" one rivered troll asked her.

"Oh, a creature attacked me while I was deep in the forest," Kona replied, "but luckily, I was rescued by another troll before the creature could do any fatal damage. She took me in to her hut and treated my injuries, but I was amazed by her colors, I'd never seen anything like them. She had purple skin and her hair was two-toned, it was dark blue, but faded to light blue on the tips of her hair," Branch's ears perked up, those colors sounded familiar to him. Was it Iris? Could she still be alive? Branch didn't say a word, he just froze.

"Branch?" Poppy placed a hand on his shoulder, "are you okay?" she asked. Branch didn't reply, he just stared down at the ground.

"What's up with him? Is he sick?" Tekai asked, a little bit concerned "is he about to pass out?" Branch didn't move, his mind was overwhelmed with questions. How could Iris be alive? He was told that she was killed. Is he sure it was Iris? It could have been another troll? 

"Branch!" Poppy started to shake his shoulders, Branch finally snapped out of his trance, "what happened? Do you need to sit down?" Branch just shook his head.

"Kona said something about a purple troll with two-toned hair, that's the exact colors that Iris had," Branch stated. 

"Why don't you go and ask Kona?" said Poppy, "I'm sure she can tell you more about the troll she saw," Branch nodded.

"I'll go get her," Tekai said, "you sit down, you still look like you're going to faint, Tough-tail," Tekai pushed through the crowd and reached Kona, "Kona, Branch wants to ask you something," Tekai stated as she pointed to him, Kona followed where Tekai was pointing. Branch was sitting down on a rock, with Poppy by his side. Kona came over and sat beside Branch, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"You okay, sweetie?" Kona asked, Branch nodded, but soon got straight to the point.

"Kona, when you were talking to one of the other rivered trolls, you said something about being rescued by a purple troll with two-toned hair," Branch started, "and...I was wondering if that troll told you their name." Kona hesitated and stroked her chin, trying to remember.

"Let me think, I'm getting old now so I don't remember things so quickly these days," Kona chuckled, she didn't talk for a little bit, "she did tell me her name, but I can't quite lay my finger on it." 

"Perhaps you could remember what her name began with, or think of something that her name is related to," Poppy advised. Kona thought for a moment.

"She had a nice name, it was something like...Isla?...no, that doesn't sound right. I think it began with an 'i'," Kona said. Branch's eyes were wide.

"Iris?" Branch asked quickly.

"Iris! That was it!" Kona exclaimed. Branch couldn't believe it, it was his sister. She was alive! Kona looked concerned at Branch, "is he alright?" 

"That troll is his sister," Poppy explained, "they've been separated for years." 

"Do you remember where you found her?" Branch asked. 

"She was at the training academy in Starlit Orchard, over by the second cliff," Kona replied, pointing to the cliff.

"I have to find her!" said Branch, "I'll gather some recourses from my bunker and I'll go there in the morning," he started to run away, but he was stopped by Tekai.

"Branch, you can't go into the deep forest by yourself! How are you not at all concerned about the danger?" Tekai stopped him, "need I remind you that Clay is expecting you to ride on Spirit around the lagoon to set her free, we can't have you running off!" Tekai yelled.

"Tekai, have you even thought about how we're going to find Spirit's pod? Or any sea lykar pod for that matter?" Branch asked, Tekai was speechless, "Starlit Orchard is right next to the coast, you could see lykars passing through there. Plus, Iris knew everything about lykar pods and habitats, if anyone can help, it's her." Branch tried to run again but Tekai grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back, she pulled him and sat him down hard on a rock. "Ow!" Branch barked, rubbing his butt. Branch calmed down and sighed, he knew that he couldn't leave Spirit, she needed him. But how would they be able to find Spirit's family? Kona knelt down in front of Branch and gently placed a hand on his cheek.

"You really miss her don't you child?" Kona spoke softly, Branch tried his best to hold back his tears, but they started streaming down his cheeks, Kona wrapped her arm around Branch and brought him in for a hug. Tekai bit her lip, she felt guilty for yelling at Branch and making him upset; after all, he only wants to have his sister back, she started to find out the truth. Branch didn't have parents and his sister was all he had left. Tekai herself felt sympathy for Branch as she also knows what it's like to be alone. She put her hand on his back.

"I'll take care of Spirit and the other lykar while you're gone," Tekai stated. A smile started to spread across Branch's face.

"Thanks Tekai," Branch knew Tekai wasn't a hugger so he just patted her on the shoulder, "I owe you one." Tekai lifted an eyebrow and gave him the 'you owe me way more than one' look.

"There's only one more thing," Poppy chimed in, "I'm going with you, Branch." Poppy and Branch on a journey together, this was the trip to bergen town all over again!


End file.
